Chrysalis
by Knight Watcher
Summary: Four years have passed since Borden's departure to the Unknown Regions. Kreia has found the Exile, but she isn't the only one after this woman and the Exile has her own demons to face as well aside from the prospects of romance with a certain scoundrel.
1. Prologue: Hawk's Shadow

"You were right in most ways not to trust the words of others especially after your trial before the Council after the Wars, but they were afraid, especially because of Revan's return at the head of the armada that would spark the Jedi Civil War…"

"A war among Jedi?" whispers the Exile

"Yes and no, unlike you many of Revan's followers from the Wars alongside a substantial amount of the Republic's military formed the ranks under a new Sith banner."

"I thought we had accomplished something meaningful not just for the Republic, but for the Jedi, to define us through the struggles we took up, though there was something else going on out there… something we had not seen… the Council had some reason to fear it, but they never knew it as we had…"

"Indeed, to have the reins to speculate from the illusion of safety within an Enclave or a Temple, distances yourself from the struggles that happen all around you…"

"They did not understand, at least it felt that way to me, but likewise trying to prove that to them was like having to give the order to activate that thing all over again except like it already happen once, it was almost like knowing they would were going to do something…"

"Something you had to face, to face it knowing you were going to suffer for it regardless of their decision…"

"It is hardly strange that I should find a like mind in you, you have the look of someone who has been down the roads, still on them even now, but perhaps I reach much…"

"You are hardly wrong; it is the conflict, the struggle that strengthens us…"

"Any idea what happen here?"

"I take it that this place has become its own tomb…"

"I am going to look around; we are going to need a way off this place, especially if whoever came after the _Harbinger_ discovers where we are… I will be back for you… any suggestions?"

"I would recommend some clothes if only to keep warm and look halfway decent…"

"I will be back…"

Kreia settles into a meditation knowing that at least the Exile's mind is an open one, but she too knows well enough not to entirely trust anyone though she is willing to step up again as someone else needs to take the wheel. Kreia realizes she is getting too old for this, but there is still work to do especially the training of the Exile. She truly is the last hope in Kreia's mind because she had been the only one to turn away at Malachor, a question that still circles through Kreia's thoughts from time to time. The Exile fights her way through a series of mining droids, which have been reprogrammed to attack organics.

***

"_Beyond those doors there is movement, but not from anything alive…"_

"Kreia, I thought the telepathy ended when I woke from the tank…"

"_It appears it has not, nevertheless, steel yourself for the coming fight…"_

The Exile whips out a vibroblade taken from the locker in the security office, a few sections back, and mentally preps the possibility of using the grenades she found there as well. A flurry of motions follow her unexpected leap through the opening doorway ahead, and before she even catches her breath, the mining droids are scrap heap on the deck around her. She exhales, replaces the grenades to her belt, and grips the blade's hilt as if remembering something, a strange feeling, something without words to explain it.

"It feels familiar and alien…"

"_It is the Force…"_

"It has been a long time…"

"_You must embrace it again… you will need all the abilities available…_"

"One must never rely upon it too much…"

"_Quite right, but the Force like any ability requires constant use otherwise…"_

"You leave it behind, but it never leaves you, you ignore it though it remains…"

"_You have thought over this much…"_

"The learning does not end…."

"_It never does… but now… you must continue…"_

She resumes experiencing cross eyed visions of the Peragian facility and the surface of Malachor V. The corpses were enough to pull her back into the moment, and she finds a stealth belt on one of them. She barely recalls the last time she used one, which had been during the Wars, a tactic that rarely worked against machine or organic though the stealthier user, the more likely one is able to evade detection. She examines the behavior cores of several units in the Operations section of the facility, and finds their algorithms were rewritten not long after her purported arrival here.

"No coincidence in that development; at least now this group is not liable to attack me. Survival favors the prepared so these units will come in handy. Now to dig through some more computers, but it seems even from the CSO's logs that things were already bad before my arrival though went straight to hell after…"

A thorough search of the administrator's logs reinforces the security chief's fears about the escalation of tensions between the miners in regards to her. It privately frustrates her that her return so far has led to more deaths, not on the scale of Malachor, it felt unlikely to top that, but before this is over, more will die, it feels inevitable to her. She took the Council's decision because she felt a need to face them, to explain her decision yet like before they had shown a worry about the real cause behind her return. It had everything and nothing to do with Revan.

She again slips back to the moment as she walks towards the holding cells at the far side of the Operations Sector. Her hand reaches towards the door controls though she naturally hesitates considering what has been behind the doors so far. Kreia again reminds her that she need not fear this one, he is only a man, but the Exile feels even more uneasy to cross the threshold. Her last experience with a man had been the male majority Council and before that her field superiors, Revan and Malak.

"You miners go and change regulation uniforms even more since I got here?"

"Eyes up, look at me, not my body!"

"You got no sense of humor lady!"

"Most of the bodies I have seen here so far are dead and the droids are on the prowl to kill anything organic surely you must know something."

"I have been in this cell for hours, maybe even a day or more by now, you lose track of time in a Force Cage, wait a second, you are not that Jedi I heard the guards babbling about?"

"I am, I only woke up from the tank awhile ago to find the other tanks' occupants dead and the rest of the facility so far seems as empty as a tomb."

"I got a deal for you, let me out and we will find some way out of here…"

"I obviously cannot get back to my ship in the hangar alone…"

"My name is Atton Rand, by the way," says the man.

"I am Vina…"

"A pleasure, so let's go…"

Atton rewires the communication console, and learns that the facility is in lockdown, which effectively seals them off from the hangar. The only way is through the mining tunnels in order to gain access to the fuel depot then find the lift to the hangar bay. However the only way to unlock access to the tunnels is in the fuel depot, as the controls to do it here have been fried or removed at some point during the escalation.

"Anyway to reach other parts of the facility through this console…"

"The communications system is mostly functional, the dormitories are silent, but I hear droid speak coming from the hangar, probably more of those kill switch miner droids…"

"No, it is not one of them; I'll talk to him…"

"Him?" says Atton

"He is a utility droid if I understand the noises right…"

"Hello, are you all right?" asks Vina

[T3 makes a response]

"Double check…"

[T3 confirms status]

"Is there anyway for you to unlock the turbolifts or access hatches from your location?"

[T3 reports status of the two possible routes]

"I rather risk it than stay stuck up here waiting for another string of attacks…"

T3 begins by hacking into the hangar bay's control terminal, and discovers that lockdown controls were taken out of the console. He downloads the layout schematics of the bay, and determines the shortest route to the auxiliary lockdown console, which is situated on a gangway that runs over the fuel pipes used for larger starships that can only make exterior docking. He makes short work of several miner droids, which are of similar design to the ones that were attacking Vina on the Administration/Operations Level. The droid eventually reaches the controls, and discovers the lockdown had been initiated from another location near his current position within the past day.

He logs out and whirls around to face unexpected company. A sonic discharge freezes his motivators and eventually shuts him down. The turbolift to the tunnels is open. Vina discerns this much from the consoles in the Admin/Ops Sector. She looks to Atton who figures that droid did the job. He is about to speak about getting directly to the Hangar Bay.

"Only the access to the tunnels is available, the rest of the lockdown is still in effect, it seems whoever did this, wrote the protocol a little too well, which means more consoles will need bypassing or overriding before we make the hangar…"

"You realize how dangerous it is to be down in those tunnels with that stuff…"

"Well somebody has got to save our skins; you sure don't look like your volunteering…"

"You are either crazy or brave, maybe both, better you than me…"

"See you on the other side…"

***

"The interference is definitely affecting the transmission, but there should be some gear down there to insulate you against the heat and anything else though I am also detecting a whole splatter of droids down there too… the same kind you got guarding me up here… makes me feel liked…"

"_Glad to be of service, I'll see what I can find…"_

"Be careful huh, I can't exactly get out of here without you…"

"_I am growing on you huh?"_

"Just watch your back okay…"

Vina had felt a slight attraction to this Atton, but even she had to admit an urge to distrust anyone especially him or Kreia. The exile had hardened her against everything and everyone, but she felt a strong need to bond with others again, it had been an empty life for too long. It had been far more personal dealing with Atton than it had been with Kreia or the crew of the _Harbinger_ before their untimely deaths days ago. She cautiously makes her way around the droids after reactivating and repairing one to attack some of the nearby ones to create a diversion for her while she suits up in a spare miner's uniform.

"It may not be fashionable, but at least it fits and feels warm enough, going around in a cut-off jumpsuit was embarrassing more in front of him than me… I really am starting to like him… get a grip Vina…"

He contacts her again.

_"Find anything?"_

"Some gear, a miner uniform, some heat shields, and a stealth belt..."

_"Damn..."_

"Something wrong?" asks Vina coyly.

_"Uh, did I say that out loud?"_

"I'm sure the droids heard you too... the tunnels aren't the only hot spot right now."

_"Just finish whatever you need to do done there..."_

She continues onward once reattaching and reactivating the stealth belt around her waist. Sensor repair balls are also flying around, probably as mobile repair units to the miner droids, but some of the droids are also packing some serious firepower in the beam energy department. Vina nears a section of the tunnels where there is a gas leak, and the comlink chirps again.

***

Atton tracks her through the sensors and the glitch ridden camera system. He makes another com call to her.

"Sensors show you are near one of the gas pockets, if you have a body shield on use it."

"_I understand, anything else shows up, let me know… I am on the move…"_

"More droids ahead too…"

"_Never easy is it?" _

_

* * *

_A/N 1: Exile/Atton play off each other from the start in this version of their meeting. I kind of made her flirt with him unconsciously, I mean if you were a man or a woman and you hadn't really had intimate experience in a long time, you would be inclined to reach out to someone on a personal level.

A/N 2: As a female Exile, I really wanted the relationship to go further then him flirting with her and being jealous of Mical/Disciple.


	2. One: Meridian

"In my experience, nothing is easy…"

"_Right, see you again eventually…"_

Atton shuts off the comlink for the time being and proceeds to smack his forehead into his right hand. He could not help himself, well almost not, the woman is undeniably attractive and she sure can keep him off-balance in a conversation. All women look like her to him, not Vina exactly, but damn close he whispers aloud. She had that Jedi posture in her walk, but she had none of the usual trappings or even a lightsaber. He sat down in the nearby chair and kept the comlink on his jacket while keeping something of a close eye on the console displays.

He twitches when several beeps alert him to a containment field failure in the tunnels. He flicks on the comlink and goes to shout into it about the field collapse though she admits she is probably the cause of that after sensor blinding the droids after they had unlocked the sealed bulkheads that set into lock mode by the lock down. He sighs raggedly before telling her to get the hell out of there as soon as possible despite his efforts to contain the breach.

"_I am already on my way out…"_

He hears a series of explosions echo over the unit before the signal moves from the tunnels to the depot. The signal then vanishes as if a dampening field is blocking it, but he believes she made it out before the explosion got to her. He begins playing pazaak in his head again while separately hoping she will find some way to contact him. His eyes drift around while resuming his mental pazaak.

***

Vina tumbles out of the lift, it seals behind her in an effort to seal the depot off from the tunnels' massive gas leak. She spots a 'protocol' droid nearby and it identifies her as master though she claims to have never owned a droid like him. He further claims that her ownership of is a technical one due to his past service to the _Harbinger_'s captain and that her sedation during the move from the warship to the freighter. She feigns buying his story before recovering a voice imprint recorder, and surprisingly convinces the droid to duplicate the voice of the maintenance officer to get the security code.

"It looks like that did the trick, and now I know that someone definitely poisoned the occupants of the other tanks in the medical wing… the question is who… but for now I need to find what the hell happen to the miners in the dormitories…"

She finds a spare space suit then slips into it during the cycling sequences in the airlock. The exhaust ports on the exterior are venting the gas from the tunnels, which amounts to another oddity in a long list of odd things going on here already. She paces her walk along the mounted catwalk, timing the intervals with gas bursts, and then the suit's comlink crackles as she had set it to link to the comlink Atton had given her earlier. Vina looks towards the viewport that protrudes from the facility's Admin/Ops Sector.

"I was wondering what happen to you, only thing is now I am reading you on the asteroid's exterior…"

"_Maybe you should look up…"_

"What are you doing out there?"

"_I need to reach the dormitories, with the lock down in the depot still in effect, this is the only route there, and it's the only way to reach the other areas, which are stuck in an independent series of lock downs, somebody with a heck of a lot of skill did this…"_

"The facility is venting a huge amount of the tunnels' gas into space from your location so you better hurry…"

"_I am moving as fast as I can in this thing…"_

"What now? There is a ship coming in to dock at the exterior, getting codes, and it's a Republic warship…"

A battered Hammerhead class capital ship initiates docking procedures, and Vina recognizes the vessel almost immediately. She would have to be faster now if what she begins to fear is true about the new owners of the _Harbinger_. The gantry extends to the warship's airlock, and the fuel lines mount to the ship's engines. Vina passes through the dormitories' airlock and begins the investigation of the surrounding sections. As with the other areas, the droids have gone berserk and all the former occupants are likewise dead. She upgrades her pair of vibroblades using parts she finds in the weapons lockers.

***

Kreia rises to her feet and turns to stare directly at her attackers who think themselves invisible to her thanks to their assassin training, but they forget she was the one who had perfected their methods. The strengths and the weaknesses of training had never left her, but as usual someone always makes the mistake of underestimating someone else. They were both dead before they could even draw their weapons, and she takes their swords for her own.

The other assassins nearby were naturally more cautious after finding their dead comrades. Kreia begins a steady walk towards the location where she expects the Exile to emerge from once she finishes her search of the outpost. She also knows another old student of hers leads this group. His pursuit of her did not bother her, but his desire to kill the Exile would interfere with her plans.

***

"Damn, why the hell did all this happen just because of my coming back, get a hold of yourself already need to keep moving, but who did this, that Coorta is certainly not the mechanic type though why would the maintenance officer have a hand in this…"

She examines the lock down code for the turbolift to Admin/Ops level, and discovers the code that Coorta used was actually reversed by his 'sponsor' who while sounding like the maintenance officer was in fact that 'protocol' droid she met earlier. Something had felt strangely familiar about him as if she had seen someone else that bore a strange resemblance to him years ago. The 'protocol' droid had reprogrammed the droids, and tricked his pawns; obviously the unit had tactical experience. However she too had more than a few tricks up her sleeves, and she enters the code in reverse order unlocking the turbolift. The dormitories' lock down ends and she returns to Admin/Ops level where she is met by Kreia.

"The ones that killed the _Harbinger_'s crew, the ones that attacked us while we were trying to outrun them are here…. we must leave soon…"

"Then let us be on our way…"

Vina and Kreia rejoin Atton at the platform and he spins around with only tiny mining laser pistol for defense. Vina tosses him a couple of different guns she found during the trek through the tunnels and the dormitories. He looks at Vina then Kreia before voicing his next complaint. Kreia is almost ready to cut him off though an expected and unexpected visitor emerges from the turbolift that connects this area to the fuel depot area that is not in lock down mode, but remains cut off from the hangar.

"_I believe you did not understand my recommendation to stay put and wait for rescue…"_

"I heard you all right, but I am not in the habit of listening to assassin droids…"

"_I am an HK-50, not an assassin droid…"_

"You were the one who poisoned the kolto tanks, the one that reprogrammed the mining droids, gassed the dormitories, and killed Coorta's gang…"

"_Guilty as charged, but they were interfering with my mission, with my bounty…"_

"Bounty?" asks Vina

"The Exchange has bounties on Jedi now…" responds Atton.

"Who sent you?" demands Vina

"_I am afraid I cannot disclose that information, especially not to a target…"_

"I do not have time to waste on you, so either get out of my way or do what you came to do…"

Vina, Kreia, and Atton engage the HK-50, which fights back naturally then self-destructs after it takes too much damage. Vina takes the vocabulator from the remains, and they set off for the _Harbinger_, which has the only direct access to the fuel depot though it requires going inside the now empty fuel lines. Atton decides to again interrupt the move. Kreia looks to the younger man with annoyance, which is contrary to Vina's frustration, as annoyance signifies actual thought while frustration is more of a momentary twinge.

"We need to keep moving…"

"If we are going to get out here then we need the orbital drift charts…"

"How are we going to get those?"

"This ship's navacomputer must have a functional uplink otherwise it would not been able to get through the fields without several holes in it…"

"This waiting is going to lessen the distance between us and the assassins…"

"Sorry Kreia, we will get the charts from the navacomputer then descend to the lower decks to get to the fuel lines…"

"Sounds like a plan…"

"Then let us be going…"

Kreia instinctively takes point and Vina follows while Atton watches their backs. He realizes that he will never get along with the old 'witch' of a Jedi. Kreia looks back towards with her atypical eyes as if she had heard his thoughts though she looks back towards the bridge again. The charts are put into a data rod to be put into the Hawk's astrogation console later. Bridge logs reveal more about the _Harbinger_'s encounter with the Sith warship and the _Ebon Hawk_.

Most of Kreia's story rings true at least from a certain point of view. The ship's directory is encrypted preventing them from gaining access to the layout maps, which leads to a dead route near a series of escape pods, which are inactive and locked in place. A trio of Sith assassins ambush them on the turn around, but they make short work of them. The other route takes to the command deck's briefing room where even more logs reveal how much the command crew knew about their 'passenger' or the Exile.

The situation at Onderon is deteriorating if the discussion between the ship's captain and Admiral Onasi is understood correctly, but it however holds further consequences for Telos. The Exile's return is a known state secret, which again poses the question how did an Exchange assassin droid and a Sith warship discover this information is a mystery except if someone intentionally leaked this information.

The race through the capital ship resumes, and they periodically are met by more Sith assassins. Vina searches through crew quarters including hers, and retrieves what scarce belongings she had brought with her to this ship. The Exile armband is put on again, but worn under her modified miner uniform. She rejoins the others and they descend to the engineering level as quick as they can, but then Atton is on about a bad feeling notion. As they advance, a severely scarred man emerges at the juncture they went through after Atton's bad feeling.

"You get her out here, I will deal with him, I am not defenseless and for all his professed strength, he is still blind…"

Kreia brandishes a vibroblade as the scarred man whips out his lightsaber. The doors close behind them. Vina and Atton keep going after she unlocks the doors that seal off the engine's interior platforms. They reach the fuel exhaust pipes and then a flash overcomes Vina. In her mind's eye, she mentally warps into the corridor where Kreia and the scarred man are dueling now.

***

"You still live, I was certain you were finally dead when I could no longer hear you in my head. No longer do your echoes remind me of teachings that are the real weakness to the method, to everything that keeps me alive despite my physical condition…"

"You truly never did learn much from what you did after Revan's 'disappearance'… and even more after my 'departure'…"

"He could have had it all, but no he left the Academy to you then you brought me and that silent one into this mess… since then we have not known cohesion felt under Darth Revan… he instead became a Jedi again…"

"You still misunderstand that while the Council had a hand in that, he however chose to be that kind of a man again, but he had not forgotten the real purpose, the real role, to be what is necessary to wage war without the trappings that the Council or even what you cling to even now… I left mine behind…"

The scarred man's lightsaber severs the blade from the hilt of Kreia's vibroblade then takes off the hand gripping the hilt. She collapses to the floor as her scarred former student stands over her with the opportunity to kill her again. He however takes this moment to taunt her instead. He switches off the blade and assumes a crouched position next to her ear.

"You went in search of the Jedi, you found this one, but one broken Jedi cannot stop the darkness waiting out here in space nor stop it in herself…"

"You still underestimate… your mistake, not mine…"

She force throws him into the bulkhead, which he barely weathers before discovering she is gone again. He snarls in aggravation before calling off the assassins realizing what Kreia's new 'apprentice' is attempting to do now. She is not out of this yet, not by a long shot, but I will enjoy the kill personally is the thought of the moment. He heads back towards the command deck to ready the ship for departure.

***

"Vina, Vina, come back to me…" shouts Atton.

"Atton, what happen?" whispers Vina

"One second you were running along like not even a boma could stop you, next you were struck down with some kind of pain…. you were clutching your wrist…"

"I felt something through the Force, something happen to Kreia…"

"I am sure we will see her again…"

The two continue into the fuel lines and find T3 there along with the missing bulkhead for the hangar bay's blast door controls. Vina kneels and talks to the utility droid for several minutes in droid speak before they fight their way through a group of humanoid looking mining droids. A short detour through the fuel depot allows them to bypass the internal force fields after removing the explosives in the fuel transfer pipes. A gas leak in the tunnel from the hangar bay control to the hangar itself is easily shut down by redirecting the flow into a tertiary pipeline.

It saves having to find oxygen masks and packs for herself and Atton. They make a quick search of containers in the bay before moving to board the _Ebon Hawk_. Atton notices from the cockpit window that Sith Troopers are charging into the bay and firing on the ship. Vina mounts the turbo laser and starts shooting them down, which almost shakes Atton since he had never seen such precision firing even during his wartime service, but her adeptness with the blade certainly points to other probable capabilities that he had not expected from her.

The troopers keep coming though nearly all of them are struck down by the laser shots or exploding barrels that the lasers cut to pieces. A few of them manage to board, but Atton intercepts them on the way in before Vina finishes off the stragglers in the bay with the lasers. He smacks two of them together then shin kicks a third before literally throwing the fourth back down the ramp into Vina's targeting reticules. He turns around point blank blasts the unconscious pair before slamming the third guy into the wall before throwing him down the ramp as well.

Vina goes looking for Atton and notices the dead troopers at his feet. She places a hand on his shoulder and he looks at her with such a mixture of misery and satisfaction. He had not to this moment shown such intensity until killing to protect her. Vina hugs him before T3 interrupts with a series of noises that imply more troopers are coming and so they head straight for the cockpit. It is in that moment that Kreia mysteriously reappears with a bandaged wrist.

"I had no intention of being left behind, so I suggest we really do leave now…"

The _Ebon Hawk_ lifts up then slides out of the bay before turning around to fly through the asteroids with the _Harbinger_ in pursuit while firing at them for a second time in a matter of days. Atton keeps dodging the shots, but realizes that a stray shot would ignite the entire field. A decision at hand again whether to keep evading until they are clear or risk firing on the asteroids to destroy the Harbinger. Vina orders him to dodge until they can clear for the jump.

"We are clear, massive explosions, brace yourselves," shouts Atton.

The _Hawk_ makes the jump as the even further shattered remnants of Peragus II float even further apart. The _Harbinger_'s fate is unknown, but the destruction of the mining facility is liable to have disastrous consequences down the road with Citadel Station's dependency on Peragian fuel. This consequence is immediately apparent to Vina, but she tugs herself back into the moment as Atton voices another complaint. T3 joins his human companions in the cockpit.

"I was not exactly looking to add planetary destruction to my record…"

"You must realize that was not our doing…"

"So where do we head now…"

"Telos is the only lane available on this vector… naturally we end up going the one place they are most likely to clap irons without questions…"

"There are other decisions to be made despite awaiting your prediction about an arrest…"

"How exactly did you find out I was on the _Harbinger_ or that assassin droid for that matter… too many coincidences floating around here…"

"You know as well as I do that while there may be such things, it is more than that, someone else gave you away, all I know is you were unconscious when I found you, and that 'protocol' droid had already been on the ship for an indeterminate amount of time…"

"Those disabled droids on the medical level should have been a dead giveaway… well you were all in such a hurry between decks, I saw a disabled protocol droid and a batch of utility droids in better shape than that trash compactor…"

[T3 beeps and whistles at Atton]

"What did he just say to me…?" retorts Atton

"You are better off not knowing… calling a droid that to his face is offensive…"

"Why are you so touchy about things like that?"

Vina smacks Atton across the face, he moves to smack her in return, but Kreia's stare stops him cold. He resumes manual helm control leaving the two women to retreat to the restored port dormitory. T3 heads off towards the engine room and works on the power couplings. Atton rubs the cheek that Vina hit only seconds before and finds himself even more drawn to her because she held to her convictions, even made a follow up by hitting him.

***

"Your striking him across the face was unexpected, but somehow I think he needs to be put in his place occasionally. Regardless I suspect you have more questions especially about the pain you felt when Sion sliced off my hand."

"Sion?" asks Vina

"He belongs to the trappings of a Sith Lord, the assassins we fought at the facility and on the _Harbinger_ were part of his faction."

"There are factions?"

"Yes, Revan's return to Korriban near the end of the Jedi Civil War broke the Unity he made possible as a Sith Lord. Afterwards others fought to take his place following the death of Malak."

"Who are the others?"

"Another is led by the Lord of Hunger; no doubt someone sent by him will be with us before long, though you cannot truly consider him a man anymore, whereas Sion, the Lord of Pain, thrives on his own pain and others as well, to the point of killing them."

"How do you know all this Kreia?" questions Vina

"This is that important to you I take…"

"If the past means as much as you seem to make it sound then I would know something of yours since you seem to know some of others like Revan, Sion, and this Lord of Hunger…"

"My story begins a long time ago, but I had like Revan found the world you call Malachor V, and on its surface kept one an ancient secret of the True Sith, the ones Revan beheld as the true threat, the ones that prompted the Mandalorian Wars. He had seen that the Council had been half right to object to bringing the Jedi into the Wars, but in his mind they were wrong to allow the Mandalorians to sweep the board. They were pawns yes, but somehow we all are when it comes to a galactic dejarik…"

"I take this story will take some time…"

"Time is something we have for the moment…"

***

**Three Years Earlier**

**Malachor V**

_'Kreia' meditates in the solitude of the Core, but the other Lords, Darth Sion and Darth Nihlius emerge from the lift that connects the Academy and the Core. She turns to face them, but their attack is an unexpected series of attacks, which she can bring no defense against. Nihlius yanks away her lightsaber and flings it into the void below the Core's platform while Sion slams her into one of curved walls protruding upward from the platform. The two strip away her robes and toss them over into the void too._

_Sion beats her for hours, Nihlius drains her to the point of the death, and then the Assassins drag her away from the Academy to one of shuttles left over from the Jedi Civil War. She regains some of her physical strength, enough to fly the shuttle away from this treacherous world, and the remaining Sith Lords convince themselves that she is done with this delusion that she reigns over their short lived Triumvirate. The plan forms in her mind to find someone capable enough to not only survive, but do what needs to be done, to be what she and the other Lords could not be in the absence of Revan. _

**The Present **

**En route to Telos**

"I tell you to learn from my mistakes, to listen, to truly learn, because no matter how much education that the Jedi gave you or I give you, you will be only thing between them and your death…"

"I will take whatever training you have to offer, it had become clear to me that the Council and perhaps the Order as a whole had become stuck in the past…"

"Perhaps, but remember not to invest too deeply in old theories and dated superstitions. You will learn what you are capable of again in time. I take you are curious about the outcome of the Jedi Civil War…"

"It had gotten my interest…"

"Nobody won, everyone lost is putting it bluntly, but this conception is one of degrees. As for Revan and Malak, Malak learnt the price of depending too heavily on the Force. At the same time, Revan found what exactly it would take to show him this, to show the Jedi what they could be though they were quick to condemn again just the same. The Jedi made him an icon and then dismissed whatever lessons they could have learnt from him."

"What happen to the Council and the Order then…"

"The Order is all, but dead; the survivors' number in the dozens, maybe more, maybe less. The Council is gone; some were killed at Katarr along with the bulk of the Order survivors at the time. The rest are liable to be in hiding, and I know not how much help we could expect from them…"

"Nevertheless, we should at least find out what they know about what happen, what they are doing, and then take it from there…"

"You are right, they do know something, the question is what and how important though like dejarik, the pieces are constantly in play…"

"I never did play that game…"

"In a way you did by being an officer in Revan's forces during the Wars…"

"I see why you might consider that…"

"I am tired, I need to rest, and deal with that idiot in the cockpit…"

"I will… you rest… I can handle it…"

"We shall see…"

***

"So how is she?"

"As cryptic as usual…"

"A Jedi trait if I ever knew one…"

"So we still on course…"

"The only place to go darling…"

"Just make sure you keep your eyes on the controls and not my ass…"

"Autopilot can handle that for a bit…"

Atton grabs Vina by the waist and looks directly into her eyes. She considers what his intention in this bold move could possibly aim to accomplish for him. He lifts her up, his hands are under her legs, she wraps her thighs around his chest, and he kisses her neck. She breathes raggedly as he tugs the zipper on her miner uniform, and she pulls off his vest then throws it over the chair. The zipper is all the way down before she realizes what she is on the edge of doing so she shoves him away before retreating to the starboard dormitory then locks the door.

Atton again smacks his forehead with his hands and goes back to flying the ship through the lane. If this would turn out to be the way of things between them, he did not exactly know how he could get around knowing they had almost done something, but she sure had this look of boxing things easily. In reality, she had kept lids as much as anyone, if not more at times in order to keep going like after Malachor. She strips down in order to use the dormitory's tiny cramped shower. It had been too long since she last did this just for the sake of feeling like she could drain away some of the pain.

***

The _Ebon Hawk_ lurches out of hyperspace almost causing anyone standing to fall over, which she did though she spreads her arms out catching the fall in the doorway. It felt better to get out of that uniform; the last of many things to explain would be her wearing one of facility's uniforms. It had held a conventional purpose at the time, but now it would be a better take to wear some regular clothes, which had belong to one of the previous passengers. The clothes are plain enough to make identifying the present or past wearer unrecognizable unless you already had known the face.

A pair of station security fighters escort the _Hawk_ at the behest of the TSF. The fighters separate from them and the _Ebon Hawk_ lands in Docking Bay One. A TSF unit is there waiting for them. Atton is already heading towards the boarding ramp with modified blasters in hand, T3 follows him, and Vina comes next though she does immediately notice that the TSF patrolmen are oblivious to Kreia. Kreia however to facilitate the visibility illusion to Atton joins Vina and him in the Force Cages down at the TSF station in Module 081.

***

A few hours later, a white hooded figure sneaks pass the TSF guards on duty at Hangar Bay One and into the _Ebon Hawk_. The ship flies off with T3 aboard, and down towards Telos' polar region. A not so strange twist if not for the fact that anything outside the Restoration is barren and inhospitable to everything, even starship hulls, but a half buried structure in frozen and snow covered polar region draws little attention anyway. The departure logs indicate little about who took it, why it was taken, and where it went except to the surface.

Meanwhile, Atton, Vina, and Kreia settle into their separate cages, but their stay faces an interruption by a man posing as TSF patrolmen. Kreia alerts them to his approach just before he enters the room. A power surge disables all the Force Cages in the station, which releases them and any other criminals being held there for other reasons. Vina looks to this instantly annoying gun man who turns to face her and Atton while equally unaware of Kreia. Atton tells him to buzz off, but this one holds no cause to listen so he punches Rand in the face. The scoundrel of a pilot falls into the back wall of the cage.

"The last of Jedi, I cannot say I am impressed…"

"You will not accomplish anything by this, we are in a TSF station, and you really think you are going to get away with this…"

"I already have… I'll say I killed you 'accidentally' why you were fleeing the scene…"

"I am quite thoroughly sick of people like you finding an occupation in killing people just because you can…"

"So what are you going to do about it, Jedi are hunted and your vaunted protector garbage does not work anymore… so come on kill me if you can…"

The gun man flops over as Kreia release her grip on his neck, and then he hits the floor. Atton looks over to see a pool of blood under the gun man that just hit him square across the face. Vina is just stepping out of her cell towards Kreia who has that usual calm look even though she just made a kill without so much as a sweat. Vina pulls Atton to his feet as Lieutenant Dol Grenn and a unit of TSF patrolmen enters to account for their presence.

"You three back to the cages and get those things online, and who is that…"

"I would say Batu Rem, but he is on vacation…"

"He said he was an assassin, he tried to kill her…"

"It looks like he failed… though I have never seen a Jedi defend against an attack like this… but then again I have seen quite a boat load of strange things since Czerka got its hands into this project…"

"So what now Lieutenant Grenn?" asks Vina

"We are moving you three to a secured apartment in Residential 082 East…"

"Very well…"

Atton and Vina are visible as usual though Kreia remains hidden from sight again. They arrive at the apartment and a short while later before it is said they will remain here for the duration of the _Sojourn_'s investigation of the Peragian Asteroids. Atton naturally asks for weapons, which Grenn does not answer to except to leave two patrolmen at their doors at all times. Vina climbs into one of the three beds, and finally manages to sleep without paranoia of an attack for the time being. Kreia assumes a standing position by the room's only view port while Atton sits on the table nearby.

"I thought you Jedi were supposed to be tough, be powerful, be many things that people could not understand, but from the way I see it, she is capable though something also feels off about her too…"

"You would be right to notice that as Jedi and Sith suffer from a dependence on the Force and some even out right forget what it means to live without it except for her, she is the rare exception to know life with and without it…"

"Why did that happen to her?" questions Atton

"Something I do not understand myself, but whatever the cause, it haunts her to this day much like Malachor and the Wars yet there is something about you that attracts her attention I know that much…"

"How do you figure that one?" continues Atton

"The way she looks at you, the way she is around you, the fact that she hit you over that machine, and you fantasize about her…at least when you are not counting cards in your head…"

"You read my mind?"

"Yours is not difficult to read at least on the surface, but your emotions do you credit to shield deeper things, hidden memories, and other details."

"You read hers?"

"No, I do not because you do not do that to someone you are training…"

"Why train her, I would think you could have found someone else…"

"There is no one else, at least not anyone that understands what needs to be done even though it hurts her to do it right now, she will discover what she is capable of again and through that perhaps find a way to put the past in context with the present…"

"You know for someone who can be a killer, you really strike me as more of a mothering type albeit a creepy one, but still I would not expect that from you…"

"We do an injustice to her by speaking like this of her…"

"It looks like that communications terminal is blinking… better wake her."

A Lieutenant Yima, Grenn's liaison is on the screen with a message from a Chodo Habat, whose representative is here to see Vina. She asks that this Moza be sent in now. Vina and Moza talk for several minutes in Ithorese before he leaves to inform Chodo of the meeting's outcome. Vina still thoroughly tired from the past several days and still recovering from after effects of prolonged kolto exposure. She falls asleep again yet she 'sees' flashes of Malachor and Telos, both worlds scarred by acts of warfare. The comm. console starts making noises again awhile later.

"Would somebody shut that thing off?" mutters Atton in his sleep

Vina goes over to it, turns it on, and a real protocol droid appears on the screen with a message from Czerka Executive Jana Lorso who is offering a regular hire for her services. She says she will stop when she has the time after finally talking to Lorso, and then goes back to bed. The doorbell rings several hours later while Vina is still in the shower so Atton answers it to find Grenn there asking to see Vina. Vina arrives dressed, but her hair is still rather wet though she is drying it off with a towel.

"The preliminary examination of the scene proves that while your ship was present, it did not however ignite the asteroids, the Sith-controlled _Harbinger_ however was not found in the wreckage so it probably got away somehow. As for facility most of the corpses recovered were determined to have been dead for some time before your arrival and those that did die during your stay were killed during your time spent in the tank. You are cleared, but I would ask you to remain on station until the _Sojourn_ arrives here."

"So is everything being released to us?" asks Atton

"Your equipment is the security lockers down at the station, but you will have to personally sign out on the freighter and the droid…"

"You were only doing your job…"

"I am glad some people still see it that way…"

Grenn gives Atton a rather irritated look, but then Grenn had to deal with all sorts of strange characters in recent years on this station that was meant to be part of a new beginning for Telos after the War. Grenn and his unit leave them to their own devices again. Vina sits down on the bed she slept in last night while Kreia stands nearby and Atton is closer to the viewport. He begins the conversation before Kreia can object or silence him.

"I think we need to get out of here as soon as possible. I rather not have those assassins or that scarred swordsman coming after these people. They already had not enough trouble with the Sith to last them a lifetime. My bet is Nar Shaddaa especially if people know our ID codes, and there are people there with tech that can rewrite our codes so even if someone recognizes the hull configuration at least the codes will throw them."

"Why are you hedging on the smuggler's moon?" questions Vina

"The crowds there are from all over the place plus if you need to get lost in a crowd what better place is there than that…" answers Atton.

"He has a point, a minor one, but our work here is not quite done yet…"

"We still need to get our stuff and the ship back…"

The trip to 081 Station meets an impasse when a Sullustan is being held up by a trio of humans in mercenary garbs. The Sullustan pleads with Vina about the spill being an accident while the mercenaries try to dissuade her to take herself into the Cantina and leave the alien to them. She grips the leader's forearm as he moves to strike the Sullustan than twists it in an effort to convince his 'friends' to back down. They however have other ideas so again Kreia effortlessly kills one while Atton body slams the other into the nearby bulkhead.

"Let's try that again shall we?" suggests Vina

"I am not letting myself being led around by a woman…"

"I really think you have no choice in this, rather a decision let him go or I send you on your way…"

"What is to stop me from getting others and finishing off the lot of you…?"

"Then we will we be doing all over again another time…"

"You would really try to get in my way again…"

"If it comes to that then I will…"

The merc tries to flip her over him, but she squeezes his windpipe with her free arm before he passes out. The Sullustan leaves after Vina informs him no reward is necessary, but as he is walking off the merc rises to his feet to chase him down though Kreia mentally intercepts him though passes it off as him losing his balance along one of gangways connecting the nearby module. The merc falls to his death and they continue to the 081 Station.

"I am afraid your vessel is no longer here… the only reference on file is that an unregistered departure was made several hours ago… your belongings however are still in the lockers…" states the TSF protocol droid.

"I knew that trash compactor could not be trusted…"

"A utility droid is incapable of flying a ship on its own, even with autopilot the odds of successful navigation are…"

"Never tell…"

"Thank you for your help… we will have to find another method of transport…"

They gather the collected belongings and recycle unnecessary into useable items that Atton naturally ends up carrying, not out of any particular reason, but because Kreia gives him that look again. They enter Grenn's office where he is busy with paper work, and barely notices them. Vina sits down in a rather loose posture knowing that men like Grenn did formality when necessary, but have deference to casual. He looks to her and asks what she is doing here if she has her stuff.

"My ship is missing…"

"What do you mean" responds Grenn.

"Your protocol droid told me this, so it seems even if I am able to leave eventually I have not the means to do so. A somewhat related yet unrelated note, I have had messengers from both the Ithorians and Czerka since you put me up in that apartment in Residential 082 East."

"Rather incidental…."

"Perhaps, do you have anything I can do outside this potentially interplanetary situation?"

"I have 'bounties', well not exactly, a witness of ours that works for Czerka has gone missing, he is crucial to a case that we are moving to put before the Telosian Council to erode Czerka's grip on the Restoration Project. There is also the matter of Batu Rem and the assassin that impersonated him to get to you here. Finally, two criminals have been missing since the assassin's sabotage of the power systems here."

"Any leads on them?" queries Vina

"Batono is or was an overseer on the Docks for Czerka so start there. The assassin also had to gotten here through there. As for the criminals there are only means of escape is through there either with the help of the Exchange or Czerka…"

"It seems Czerka has a lot to do with the station's criminality…"

"You can understand why I want them out, they are like parasites disrupting the order I spent years trying to secure here… so as far as the planetary situation goes… I trust you know what it means for us up here and those trying to rebuild down there…"

"I have no intention of helping Czerka; they do however represent information and obstacles in this situation…"

"Good luck Miss… I expect to be kept informed on your investigations…"

The trio visits the Docks and learns that the assassin had come from Nar Shaddaa while the new Overseer directs them to Lorso. An encounter with Lorso seems inevitable at this stage. The next stop is the Czerka office, which incidentally occupies the same module as their apartment. As they enter, the protocol droid greets them and directs them towards Lorso's office where the escaped criminals are in a meeting with Lorso. Vina directs Atton and Kreia to wait outside for the criminals while she goes on to see Lorso alone.

"Gentlemen you just head to the Czerka Bay and they will ferry you to the surface to join our security forces at the outpost in the designated Restoration Zone…"

The criminals, a Rodian and a Devaronian, depart without a word to either Lorso or Vina. Vina questions Lorso about Batono though takes great care to not mention Grenn or the TSF investigation of her. The criminals discretely board the service elevator after evading Atton's clumsy attempt at stealth yet are unaware that Kreia is riding the elevator with them. She reads the Rodian's mind and learns exactly where he is going then returns to find Atton getting out of a minor argument with Vina about losing the criminals.

"He did his best, but they were likely expecting someone to be following them. I do however know where they are heading. There are tricks that minds like theirs have no defense against, but reading minds is not something I highly advise to anyone unless you are ready to breach the purported sanctity of mental privacy."

"I am sorry Atton, but at least I have a lead on Batono and naturally it leads us to Chodo's Ithorians…"

"The incidental 'coincidences' are mounting my Jedi friends…"

Vina jokingly jabs Atton in the ribs before they continue towards the Ithorian Embassy. Kreia informs her that the criminals are heading to a restoration zone, which is one of many parcels of barren landscape undergoing environmental reclamation so that it can support a full ecosystem again. The desk attendant directs them towards Chodo's inner chambers where he is meeting with Moza, the representative they met only hours ago. Chodo and Moza look towards the trio then they step closer together.

"I take it that you have been expecting me," remarks Vina.

A lengthy conversation in Ithorese baffles Atton yet Kreia never lost the subtlety of reciprocal bargaining regardless of language used to make the deal. Vina also gains access to Batono's location, which turns out to be an apartment in same unit as theirs. There is also an agreement made to escort a replacement droid systems manager, but dealing with Batono's predicament is an immediate priority for Vina. They are again on the move back to Residential 082 East from the Embassy in 082 West.

***

"Who are you?" quivers Batono

"Grenn sent me, Chodo told me you were here, and Lorso is obviously looking for you, so I really do not think you can afford to enforce a hiding out method…"

"What makes you think I am giving myself away on the chance that you one of hers or that leaving this room will not get me shot before I can divulge anything…"

"You heard the lady, Lieutenant Dol Green TSF sent us out of concern for your safety and for your testimony in the trial against Czerka… she was a Jedi…"

"A Jedi?" remarks Batono

"Yes I was… besides the TSF can safeguard you better… you need allies… friends…"

"I am with you, take the lead Miss…"

The four move to head out only to meet head on with Two CzerkaSec agents. They insist that Batono is coming with them while Vina countermands by saying Lorso is not getting him. A brawl ensues and they naturally lose to Vina's remarkable swordsmanship. The four resume the trip back to the 081 Station while the TSF's CIU takes care of the CzerkaSec bodies.

"Batono…"

"Grenn…"

"You did something rather remarkable… I was not sure what happen to him, but you not only found him, you got him to come out to testify against Czerka…"

"I did what I could, but for now I have other business to attend to with the Ithorians, and also those criminals got away to one of Czerka's outposts in the Restoration Zones…"

"I am grateful for Batono, but I cannot just take you at your word about the criminals… if you should encounter them again… do what is necessary… I would like their capture, but if that is not possible then you know what to do…"

"You are sanctioning something like that…"

"If it comes to that only…"

The trio returns to the Docks, to the Ithorian Hangar where a lone TSF patrolman waits with an Ithorian and the new droid systems manager. They cross the bay only to hear the droid remark about unexpected arrivals. Vina whirls around whipping out her vibroblades and attacks the leader of the five while Atton shoots at the others from a distance. Kreia is again not visible though she plays her part in dealing with the attackers by making their weapons jam or move away from them when they are down. A modified blaster is retrieved from one of the corpses, and its design alterations are particularly noticeable to the Ithorian.

"It appears we are making enemies rather frequently… first the Scarface, next that dead assassin, then CzerkaSec, and now these guys…"

"This weapon has been heavily modified, and these guys are definitely CzerkaSec, so nothing new. We need to get the droid to the Ithorians right away…"

***

"Our alliance with the Ithorians is a danger…"

"Nevertheless, we need a way to the surface to recover the ship…"

"Your distrust has served you well; I would hope your predispositions are not being thrown away…"

"I have not, but I cannot make a trust issue out of everyone I deal with…"

"Naturally so what is our next task for Chodo?"

"Exchange boss is leaning on him, we are to 'negotiate' a settlement, which means this will not end well, but to get the Exchange off his back would help the project considerably…"

"We won't get to this boss by just stepping in as Chodo's representatives…"

"You think we need another opening…"

"It's the only way to get through to these criminal organization types…"

"You appeal to their sense of greed, vanity, or both…"

Vina buys some different sets of clothes for her, for Atton, but Kreia waves off a different look. Vina dons a Light Combat Suit, which at this stage will not hamper her returning Force abilities by much whereas Atton trades his usual Ribbed Jacket look for a standard Light Battle Armor. Both were bought through Samhan Dobo, a suspected black market weapons dealer on Citadel Station. Vina questions him about the modified blaster, which he admits is sold through him yet made by Czerka though they will outright deny dealing with the black market here or elsewhere.

"I take that we are telling Grenn about this too…"

"We might as well before we get ourselves into that likely firefight with the Exchange."

Grenn's CIU techs examine it and confirm that it is an unregistered Czerka made weapon, but they cannot pin on it on them since it came through a weapons dealer so confirming that they sold it to him. The absence of tags on the weapon also make it impossible track too. Vina also states that Dobo made a contract offer to her to obtain certain items to be sold through his next shipment in Docking Bay 3, the Czerka Bay, which again merits another link in the chain to Czerka.

"What do you need?" asks Grenn

"A rare Bachani plant from the Ithorian Embassy's atrium, a prototype shield kept in Docking Bay 2 and medical supplies from the Hospice in Residential 082 West."

"It'll take some time and maneuvering, but I'll get the items…"

"Thanks, we will be back…"

***

Atton despite his sparse amount of credits manages to rake a substantial pile during several rounds of pazaak. Vina turns her attention to the swoop track, which she had not run since the Wars as Revan thought it an effective training method as far as honing reflexes and learning an old Mandalorian deference to mobile warriors. Kreia chose to recluse herself to their place in Residential 082 East. Vina naturally manages to win out several rounds drawing the attention of Luxa who presents herself as the local Exchange boss' second, which she vocally resents thinking that the Quarren, Luppak Slusk, is holding her back by being a favorite of the Nar Shaddaa kingpin Goto.

"I take you intend to replace him," remarks Vina.

"Damn right I do, but so long as he sits behind the desk, there is no way to get him out of the way, and I would welcome your help…" continues Luxa.

"Chodo Habat sent me to 'negotiate' with Luppak, and my ship was also stolen from the Docks while I was being held in lockup for something I did not do at least not directly, I was there, but they shot at me… set off the deposits in the Peragian Asteroids…"

"You out ran exploding fuel rocks?" remarks Luxa

"Yep, that's me or rather that guy over there flies my ship…"

"Not that bad looking for a human, but you impress me more though I take you will need help especially if Slusk's bodyguards catch wind of what we are doing… you kill Slusk and I will get the Exchange off their backs then get you to the surface, to your ship…"

Vina leaves Luxa while she contacts her people inside the Exchange office in 082 East modules. Vina hand signals Atton who gracefully ends his winning streak, bags the credits, and takes off after her. Kreia is unexpectedly waiting for them in the waiting area for the shuttle to the Docks after the pair comes back from Grenn's office with their 'stolen' contraband. Atton stays with Kreia while Vina escorts Samhan to the shuttle waiting area. Samhan like others before him seems completely oblivious to Kreia, but he makes no mention of how many are with them since Kreia made sure of that possibility too when briefly probing his thoughts.

***

"I haven't all day Samhan…"

"It would go faster if you or your lackeys would help with the loading…"

Several units emerge from different entry points including the maintenance shafts, hatches, and the main entry point to the Czerka Bay, which also unofficially functions as an Exchange Bay transporting individuals like the assassin that impersonated Batu Rem. The TSF officers arrest all the individuals in the bay, which includes Vina, Atton, and Samhan. Kreia goes unseen, which only Vina notes later despite the fact that Atton thinks he sees Kreia in the cell with them though says nothing as Kreia is a good silencer in that way.

"Well Samhan it seems we finally got you…"

"You got nothing on me Grenn…" [A protocol droid translates for Samhan]

"We got you at the scene; we got stolen contraband, a number of Exchange people, some Czerka dock hands, and your 'new suppliers'…"

"Her, she did not strike me as the easy to capture type…" [Droid translation resumes]

"She made no efforts to resist being taken…"

"Smart or stupid, not sure which, but she will get her due once they know you are holding me…" [Translation resumes]

"You mean the Exchange, the loss of one black market sector will not do much damage, besides you were ratted out, not saying who for confidentiality…"

"Either my brother or her…" [Translation continues]

"Your arraignment and trial are in the future, but they will happen, I am sick of your kind rotting my station from the inside out…"

"Others will take my place, it is inevitability…" [Translation resumes]

"They will be taken out of the picture too…"

"Endless struggle then…" [Translation ends]

***

"It had to appear as if you were being busted along with them…"

"I understand, but I have other business unless you got more…"

"Our fuel situation is desperate…"

"I realize my screw up at Peragus II will be stuck on your heads in particular, but I will try to find you another source eventually…"

"I am holding you to that, but I hardly expect results…"

"I am still going to do it…"

Vina rejoins a pacing Atton and a meditating Kreia at their apartment in 082 East, as they consider how to approach dealing with Slusk despite the feigned allegiance to Luxa. The trio arms themselves for the coming close quarters combat at the Exchange offices down the promenade from here. Vina immediately draws the attention of the receptionist who is about to alert security to their presence, but she manages to persuade her otherwise to make it seem as if her visit is on the schedule. The receptionist leaves shortly after with the notion that is time for lunch, which is secretly Kreia's doing, reduce the witness factor is the method here.

Vina agrees to find a way to release a captive Ithorian after dealing with Luppak and Luxa. The right-hand man, the security detail man Benok glares at them as they cross into the lounge outside Luppak's offices. The others including Luppak look to them as well before the boss speaks about their intrusion. Vina's insists she is here on behalf of Chodo, which earns an irritated remark from Luppak about allowing Chodo's stooges in here. The boss leaves the handling to Benok, and the three engage Benok and his men in short order.

Atton recovers Benok's personal firearm, and holsters into one of the open slots in his combat belt. They continue further into the offices only to have to defeat Luppak's droid defense units. The units are easily taken out by using Force push to hurl them into the bulkheads, and Luppak's inner sanctum is open to them now. They enter and Luppak pleas to be spared whatever fate they have in store for him. However Luxa and her Gamorreans enter at that moment.

"I knew you had a hand in this Luxa… I offer you a deal, which requires Luxa's death as an act of 'faith'…"

"Remember our deal Vina; do not let him persuade you otherwise…"

"_You must decide quickly, one way or the other; there are consequences beyond this move…"_

* * *

A/N 1: Kreia's abilities include a range of things like being invisible visually and in the Force, knowing ancient techniques, telepathy, death trances, and so I added one of my own or rather just the idea she could kill without so much as a sweat like she does with the Assassins. As for the Kreia-Sion scene, I modified the dialogue and how she facilitates getting away from him.

A/N 2: I condense some events on Citadel into this part. Usually I side with the Ithorians mainly because I dislike Czerka and the dark side story feels increasingly incomplete the further along you go on in the game and I just don't have the do evil stuff inclination. Early references to Goto and the Smuggler's Moon.

A/N 3: I had the most fun at times with the Kreia scenes because she is my favorite character in the game after in tandem with myself. There just seems a far more concealed history to everyone that joins you in the search for the Masters. Segment ends on kind of a cliffhanger having to decide between Luppak and Luxa.


	3. Two: Retrospect

Vina spins around catching Luxa off guard as she effortlessly disarms the former second while the others handle the Gamorreans. Afterward with a fair amount of appealing to Slusk's sense of greed, he assures her that he will stop leaning on the Ithorians, but this by no means will be her last encounter with the Exchange. The trio returns to the Ithorian Embassy to inform Chodo of the outcome, which he naturally is grateful aside from the fight that was used a bargaining chip to pocket Luppak's promises.

***

Chodo had one further request for Vina.

"One further request is that we bring Czerka's corruption to light, to prove they are not doing what they claim they are doing there or up here," begins Chodo.

"How are we going to accomplish that?" questions Vina

"There is the mainframe in the Czerka's offices here on the station… however gaining access would not be easy especially since it is a separate system from the rest of their terminals…"

"We would need access to one of their droids then… perhaps a disgruntled worker or a droid mechanic…"

"You are certain you wish to risk that at the chance of a double cross?"

"It seems the most likely to work solution…"

"The usual warnings apply because this cannot be traced back to us despite our intentions to have pressure finally on them instead of us after all this time…"

***

The trio sit in a darkened booth in the cantina just off the corridor between the two ferry shuttle stations. The debate is still ongoing as to whether or not to proceed with Chodo's last request yet it seems the most direct path to get the shuttle down to the RZ to begin the surface search for the _Hawk_.

"Seriously I can't believe we are doing all this…"

"For once, I am almost agreeing with the fool…"

An agreement between these two as Vina had already seen back in the lifeless hallways aboard the _Harbinger_ is rare.

"We have no way down without raising suspicions with Grenn, and as you know someone did hijack our ship…"

"Right…"

Atton's predisposition shifts towards Vina's plan and away from Kreia's concerns.

"I also do not approve of your alliance with Chodo Habat…"

Somehow he had the feeling these two women were not unlikely to agree often either except when they both see the situation similarly.

"He has the shuttle to get us to the surface…he has resources we need right now… I cannot like I said before make everyone an enemy…"

"You best be more careful with alliances in the future…"

Kreia while obvious still had a valid point about caution towards who to ally with given the apathetic and distrustful attitude towards Jedi since the end of the War and their apparent abandonment of the Republic. He had his own suspicions about their disappearance aside from the stories he heard about Katarr and fighting those Sith Assassins struck a nerve because even he had dark secrets to conceal especially from Vina. Kreia remains in the booth as does Atton yet both watch with interest as she drifts away from them towards their opening to infiltrate and extract information from Czerka.

Vina saunters over towards the man identified to her as Corrun Falt, a disgruntled Czerka employee, and so they talk it up awhile. First about his job, second his problems with Lorso, and finally about exposing Czerka for the purpose of making Lorso look bad though not mentioning the real purpose is to make Czerka look bad altogether. She pays him for the information, and leaves him to his next round of drinks. He directs her to Czerka's pay-for-hire droid mechanic, a Duros named Opo Chano.

***

"Who are you? What do you want? I know I am behind…"

"Hold it, I am not Exchange collector, I am just looking to get your droid credentials…"

"Explain your intentions…" asks Opo.

"To 'borrow' Czerka's protocol droid…"

"Why would you do this now?" continues Opo

"To expose Czerka, to break its grip on the Telosian Council and Telos…"

"An honorable intent, but I cannot release the credentials…"

"Why?" questions Vina

"I cannot tell you…"

"She answered all yours buddy!"

"You are right; I have a rather large debt with the Exchange, a few thousand credits…"

"Here the credits for the credentials…"

"I will pay you back…."

"Keep them to pay off your debts and as for the extra use it for yourself…"

***

Translation: "The Czerka protocol droid, how clever…"

The reprogrammed B-4D4 returns to the Czerka office and directly lies to Lorso about why he needs access to the mainframe. T1-N1 interjects, but a bit of droid reverse logic sends the utility droid off on a killing spree of the nearby CzerkaSec guards. B-4 deletes all records pertaining to his purchase, his operations, after downloading the necessary files for the Ithorians' case against Czerka. It is the equivalent of faking demise or eliminating proof of purchase for him. B-4 exits the mainframe section and stops at Lorso's desk.

"I need you to recover the records on T1-N1; he needs to be dealt with because these memory wipes are not enough…"

"I will attend to immediately Mistress Lorso," rep**lies** B-4.

The renegade protocol droid makes a steady pace to the exit to the Czerka Offices in East 082 to the Ithorian Embassy in West 082. He assures them that the file theft will not be traced back to them or him since he did his best to cover his tracks and his existence. Chodo allows him to depart and rejoin T1-N1 who is waiting for him at the Docks. Vina returns to the Embassy alone awhile later while Atton decides to tail the droids for a bit before returning to the apartment where Kreia is meditating though well aware of his return.

Translation: "You have done us a great service, and so for our gratitude I will provide the 'healing' I promised you before…" says Chodo.

"Very well, do what you feel you must…" replies Vina.

***

She feels the Force flowing more intensely than before yet the effort to use is also different as she can levitate even a chair with as little as a thought, so like her during the Wars where hurdling a boulder towards a Mandalorian Basilisk took that much effort too. Vina exits to meet the others at the shuttle boarding station in 081, but Kreia and Atton meet her halfway as she is passing between the separate 082 modules. Kreia is about to alert her to Moza's contact, but the Ithorian is quicker than Kreia in that respect.

Translation: "We are under attack by CzerkaSec, we need your help again, alternate access through the ventilation shafts above your location…"

"I can't believe we are still helping them…"

"They need our help still…"

"You cannot stop to help everyone…"

"What would you have me do, pick and choose between every encounter?"

"It would be more practical!"

"Let's just finish this and get down to the RZ…"

Vina drops down swinging her vibrostaff, which slices through the security droids attacking the hiding Ithorians near her. Atton somersaults over the benches and kicks the nearest CzerkaSec merc who goes flying into the wall as his buddies attempt to crowd Atton. Vina leaps over hitting both attackers; the higher end of the vibrostaff hits the first one in the head hard while the lower end hits the other in the stomach region. Kreia in her usual stealth methods battles through those between Vina and Moza. They drop like flies, but she leaves the last few to Vina who is catching up knowing there are still other to fight here.

Translation: "I knew you would come back Vina."

"I am not in the habit of leaving things undone if I can avoid it, where is Chodo?"

Translation: "The leader and his lieutenants have him in the other room where you first met him…"

"Right, locked I take it, I will need the keys…"

Vina takes the keys from Moza and she races off to safe the Ithorian leader. Atton takes off after her while Kreia deals with remaining lackeys in the tiny embassy's lobby. Vina enters Chodo's inner sanctum as the lead CzerkaSec mercenary is preparing to kill Chodo. She launches herself at the leader with a Force jump, which knocks him down while Atton double shots the lieutenants who did not have the time to switch back to blasters. They drop leaving Vina to persuade the leader to leave with his life, but he pulls out a last grenade to throw at Chodo.

Atton launches himself at the Ithorian to push him out of the way, but then Chodo stands his ground then bellows loud enough to shatter the grenade before it can detonate while throwing Atton backwards. The lead merc takes this opportunity to try charging Chodo, but Vina trips him. Atton still in midair shoots the merc dead before he hits the ground. Kreia rejoins them to report that the stragglers have been dealt with and TSF is sending medical teams to take care of the injured Ithorians. Vina thanks Kreia for calling them in, but she insists someone else did this.

Chodo offers Vina a reward for her service, but she insists giving whatever it is to the project as her donation.

The trio arrives at the Ithorian Bay also called Docking Bay 2, and boards the shuttle that will ferry them to RZ-0031. Atton takes the pilot controls and spins his way through pre-flight, systems, and anything else checks. The engines roar to life, and the shuttle lifts off then back outs before swing around. The port and starboard wings unfold, and then the shuttles enters the regular shuttle traffic patterns until clearing Citadel Station's regular lanes.

The mundane gray painted transport shuttle descends into the atmosphere towards 0031, and from this altitude the bombardment's scars are still visible despite the four years spent so far on the Restoration. It will take much longer than that thinks Vina, which Kreia acknowledges in her own way. As Atton is about to offer his own comments, a string of AA turrets opens fire on the shuttle. He whirls around and tries to get the shuttle to dodge the blasts.

"Brace yourselves ladies this is going to be a rough landing!"

The shuttle takes several hits, but Atton manages to make a level descent until the landscape offers its own resistance so he makes a hasty landing, which fails to account for the slope. They really strap in, but the shuttle hits the ground with a bump then keeps going due to the sluggishness of the reverse engines. Both wings fling up and down as Atton struggles with the controls yet as the damaged vessel slips then flies off the hill into the grasslands below it becomes unlikely that they will stop. Then as sharp it began, it ends as the front of the shuttle crumples on impact with a rock wall that one of the RZ field generators was built into years before.

***

"You might want to be careful General…" says a voice.

"Who are you? Where am I?" she replies to him

"You are probably where you intended to end up aside from the AA shots and the crash though I doubt Chodo would have sent you down in this unless there was nothing else to spare from the project…"

"Bao-Dur?" whispers Vina

"Yes, your old friend Bao-Dur…" he answers

The Iridonian or Zabrak mechanic finally manages to cut the last strap pinning her to the knocked over seat. He helps her out of the ship where Kreia is beginning to come around then she gets to her feet and check on their minimal weapons stash, which is thankfully intact for the most part. Vina shouts at unconscious Atton who awakens to see the burning wreck behind her and an Iridonian standing next to her. Atton again meets interruption when he is about to say something.

"I am the one Chodo told the General about…"

"General?" says Atton

"I was a Jedi General during the Wars…"

"Figures…. Otherwise why call her that…"

"Please, I am not in the mood for dry humor… we need to move soon especially if that was CzerkaSec that shot us down…"

"The old military base's AA guns were the ones that shot you down so it was probably them, but how could they know you had come down unless someone told them?"

"Regardless, we need to move like she said…" reminds Kreia.

Bao-Dur takes the few extra blasters and a sword for himself while the others holster or sheath the ones they have been using for the past few days. The group heads for the CzerkaSec encampment ahead, and one by one picks them off. Each disappearance spooks the remaining numbers more and more before Vina strikes their leader across the face with the butt of one of his cohorts' blaster carbines. There is a minefield beyond the camp, which Bao-Dur deals with it after equipping an Aratech Stealth unit to his waist. He signals the other to advance after he also disables the nearby turrets, which fortunately cannot read through a stealth field.

"Another sentry drone, no doubt reporting our advance, we have to move quicker than before…"

"The control console for accessing the shield network is up on that circular elevated platform over there and the entrance to the old base is done a ramp on the far side, but they are likely to remember me so I am going in stealth to deal with the mines they probably set up by the entrance…" continues Bao-Dur.

"Be careful…" replies Vina.

"Hey, it's me…" answers Bao-Dur.

Vina smiles, then chuckles before hand signaling Atton to follow her, yet Kreia hangs back for a few moments to see how this will unfold without her down there. The Iridonian presents another pawn on this dejarik board though not entirely unexpected, just someone else to account for besides the fool, the droid, and the Exile among this growing party. These CzerkaSec mercenaries are only the surface of enemies beyond this world for the Exile and those that would risk their lives to follow her. She draws them so like him yet they know not this influence she wields over them, but even she herself is not totally aware of it either.

"Corrun Falt warned us about you…"

"He did now, did he?" answers Vina

Vina launches herself at the lead mercenary while Atton switches to a pair of vibroswords then attacks one of the others. Kreia mentally loosens boulders over a group of mercs moving towards Vina from up the ridge. The heavier rocks crush them without much sound aside from groans as the rocks hit them. Atton whirls around expecting them only to see their weapons, and pools of blood streaming out from under the fractured boulders. Kreia flings a lone mercenary away from Atton as he fails to note this one coming from the platform.

***

Vina finds Bao-Dur already working on the console while Atton and Kreia finish off the remaining CzerkaSec mercenaries. The algorithms and sequences scramble across the console's display panels before his eyes widen upon learning the location of the _Ebon Hawk_. He powers down the console then shorts it out with his cybernetic arm. The mechanic turns to face the other to share the information.

"Your ship is off the grid, more or less, an outpost in the arctic polar region is drawing a barely registering drain to the planetary shield network, but if anyone does notice it reads more like a glitch or an echo. Both instances are quite common in the technology despite my attempts to refine it. The only way to access it is to use this facility's last shuttle…"

"I hope it works and nobody gets the itch to shoot us down again…"

"Let's just keep moving…"

"I am right behind you General…"

Kreia follows unseen though the others behave as if she is there at least to Vina's perception. The subterranean military base resembles ones she remembers visiting sporadically during the Wars, which makes it probably Republic military. The one built on Serroco is what brought the Mandalorians there in the first place, but when the siege began, the targets were civilian cities and settlements that had Republic troops roaming through them daily. On the one side, some would later argue that Mandalorians were cold and vicious in their warfare tactics while on the other side Mandalorians were quite to the point of accusing the Republic of using civilian populations as shields.

A lone survivor of the Czerka salvage teams staggers towards them shouting about the base's defense systems came online recently and shot everyone to pieces. Vina attempts to calm the guy down, but it takes a few slaps before he stops squealing about psychotic droids. Vina tells Atton to get the surviving Twi'lek back to the base's access ramp. He takes off reluctantly with the Twi'lek back the way the group had come. Kreia had thought him a better escort candidate than the Iridonian because the Iridonian had not yet caught on to her ability to mentally cloak her presence.

"It is flyable, but the roof doors are shut, the only way to open them is the launch codes though the entire system is on minimal power. The ion reactors are off-line; the only way is to turn them on."

Kreia trails them after the security measures are offline to prevent the appearance of the droids be seen shooting at nothing. Atton catches up as Vina and Bao-Dur finish off the remaining security droids brought online by the ion reactors activation's sequence. The launch codes are found in a datapad locked away years ago, but one can only hope they did not change them since then. The codes unlock the roof doors, but they are left to battle one remaining obstacle, a behemoth of a battle droid, which takes all their strengths.

It eventually succumbs to the all slashing, shooting, and a little bit of Force powers. Bao-Dur and Atton get to work on readying the shuttle while Vina and Kreia encounter yet another HK-50, the probable cause of another line of renegade droids in this place. However the magnetically sealed doors are confusing to Vina, but Kreia suspects the probable cause of that though says nothing for the moment. The unit however self-destructs after Vina's repair efforts, but Kreia shields them from the explosion.

Atton comes running to find Vina holding up the HK-50 head by the wiring in its equivalent of a neck. He shakes his head while making a slight chuckle than informs her that the shuttle is ready for take off now. She follows as Kreia remains a moment to examine the latest droid assassin, and realizes the unit vaguely resembles Revan's old assassin droid. Someone is making more 'advanced' versions of that one she realizes before appearing on the shuttle and tapping the Iridonian then somehow he recalls there were three, not two in that shuttle crash he found earlier.

***

The shuttle lifts off, the wings unfold, and then the engines fire propelling the craft towards the arctic polar destination. Atton handles the helm controls while Bao-Dur handles the rest leaving the two women to meditate in the cramped aft section. A rocket missile is heading straight for the shuttle after the shoulder mounted weapon is taken off and thrown aside as the shooter rejoins the other HK-50s atop the buried structure. The missile hits the shuttle's port engine, and it falls in a rough descent into the snow drifts that cover the exposed roof and pillars.

Bao-Dur rushes off into the aft to check the damaged engine while Vina and Kreia rush to the cockpit to find Atton struggling with the controls. They strap in as the shuttle hits the drifts and slides on the slick surface while pushing the snow forward with it. The mound of snow eventually slows the drive to a stop, and they climb out to see the trio of assassin droids advancing on them. Vina keeps trying to wake Bao-Dur, but he is unconscious from hitting his head on the bulkhead above the port engine.

"You know I am getting really tired of being shot down or at by people!" shouts Atton

"_You fail to remember that by traveling with the target, you invite that possibility."_

"Really now, bring it on tin cans!" yells Atton

"Don't be a fool again," retorts Kreia.

Atton targets the leader and somehow manages to hit the right spot to trigger the self-destruct protocol, which only activates in the event of capture probability or too much damage to conduct self-repairs. The other two dodge the explosion and open fire on Atton except their guns jam forcing them to toss them too. Vina smashes the remaining two together with a concentrated effort, and recovers another piece of HK tech from the least damaged unit. Atton and Vina then carry Bao-Dur out of the shuttle wreck.

"You better see this," says Kreia.

"Well what do you know, an elevator door built into the rock face…" murmurs Atton.

"Your level of astuteness is astounding…" remarks Kreia.

"Why thank you so ever much…" chuckles Atton.

"We need to get Bao-Dur shelter and ourselves, the storm out there is getting worse despite that shield that appears to be active around this location…" continues Vina.

The descent takes awhile though there are no indications about levels or location except for the humming of the repulsorlifts. Bao-Dur comes around to see five women in white aiming their staffs at his prone form. Four of them proceed to lift while the fifth signals that the fourth visitor is coming down with them. The trio in lift experiences slowness in the descent, but it resumes the starting pace before a clunk indicates the lift is at the bottom of the shaft.

***

"You will surrender your weapons now!" commands the woman

"Very well I did not come here to fight…" answers Vina.

"Wait when we will be getting them back?" questions Atton

"It is not up to us…"

Two hooded women take their weapons before they lead Atton and Kreia away from Vina as she is being taken to see someone that has been expecting her for some time now. Atton steps inside the Force Cage as does Kreia and both then spot an unconscious Bao-Dur in one of the other cells. Atton starts fidgeting and muttering numbers again. Kreia mentally shouts at him, which spooks him thus allowing her access to his mind. He grabs his skull while in a painful voice demands that she get out of his head. His struggling ends when he falls to his knees and she gains access to his memories.

"I see why you were so eager to bury your thoughts when we were put in here, you think these women are Jedi, that they will kill you, because you were a Sith assassin… my and you were all high riding about things Jedi did… more importantly you are torn about being judgmental about the Exile and about Jedi in general…"

"Promise me you will let me tell her…"

"Afraid she will think less of you because either she will kill you or forgive you though best be ready for the consequences of both…"

"You tore into my head with a vengeance yet you treat her like she is the one for something that I am not privy to know…"

"It will stay that way because even I am not sure what I am trying to accomplish through her except to teach that the real battles are not entirely about huge armies rather about lone combatants…"

"Revan said similar things at least the way I heard it…"

"Silence a decision point is coming…"

Atton loses consciousness and drops to the floor. Kreia realizes who is the leader of this gathering, and finds a slight surprise wondering how she got around the Purge. It certainly does not bode well considering she was of the few Masters strangely absent from the Katarr Gathering, but others also were missing unlike Vandar or Zhar. Those two at least had the dignity to dare meeting in numbers. Their deaths would not be without meaning, but Atris' survival alters the board again.

***

"A Council chamber?" whispers Vina

"This place is modeled after a combination of Jedi Council chambers, but it has yet to have any besides Mistress Atris using it…" says the woman.

"Who are you anyway?" questions Vina

"I am…"

"Their names are not yours to know, as for you sisters, you are dismissed for the time being, as she and I have things to discuss in private…"

"As you command mistress," says the woman.

Vina and Atris watch the handmaiden escorts depart from the chambers leaving them to exchange stares for several minutes before Atris takes a seat in the chair closest to the upward ramp. Vina sits opposite, which is closer to the downward ramp. Vina pays no mind to Atris carrying her old lightsaber, but Atris detects recognition of the weapon in her eyes. Atris begins to speak about it.

"You all did what you thought you had to do in those times, and so did I, whether we were right or wrong, that is for others to decide should and when the Order makes an amicable return to the scene…"

"Yes, you have come to some understanding during your travels, but you were given that arm band for a reason…"

"I know, but the Sith are back, they were after me on the _Harbinger_ and again at Peragus as well…"

"You speak honestly about that, but there are still further ripples especially for Telos without Peragian fuel, Citadel Station will fall out of the sky in time, the reserves will only last so long, so if the Project fails then there is scarce hope for other worlds seeking similar recovery efforts… a test if you will…"

"I told the TSF, I would seek out a new fuel source…"

"Curious that you should to help that which you already hurt…"

"I make mistakes Atris, but I take responsibility for it… can you say the same?"

"I thought you were not debating old decisions…"

"I did not mean that decision, I meant what you are doing here… especially after all the deaths during the Purge and what about the other Masters… are any still alive besides you?" asks Vina

"They are in hiding like me, but as for others, they have gone more than just hiding in plain sight like the Masters…"

"You will need my help if we are to gather whatever is left to deal with this Sith reemergence…"

"You are right, so as proof of your claims that you are being responsible, you will have to find them, bring or direct them to Dantooine… I trust you can handle that without igniting any registering disruptions…"

"I cannot promise that, but if they happen, they happen, so I must accept the possibility of dealing with that too…"

"The _Ebon Hawk_ is in the hangar, your droid is in control room above it, and your allies are in the cells not far from here…"

"Why detain them?"

"I rarely grant trust to anyone these days, especially you…"

"I will leave you to your musings…Master…"

"You no longer possess that rite with me…"

Vina leaves the room under the watchful eyes of the Handmaidens, but the woman from earlier speaks briefly to Atris before departing from the room as well. The only handmaiden with her hood down trails Vina into the hallway leading to the training area. Vina spins around, which almost catches the younger woman off-guard. She drops into a traditional Echani stance then moves to attack, but Vina counters by flipping over her then seizes her by the neck.

"If you are going to sneak up on someone, you are going to need more stealth, but not felt through any sensory ability, whether it is intuitive or Force influenced…"

"Quite right, it is good to see you have not lost your physical prowess, but then again Atris is constantly objecting to my deference to physical abilities…"

"There is a time for words and a time for fighting…"

"It is curious why Atris had been so insistent on your exile yet so thrown by your return at least in her words; body language is more evident in melee combat…"

"I also wonder what is here in the way of artifacts…"

"Nothing worth noting, but a great deal of it feels wrong despite her conviction that answers to the why so many 'fell' during the Wars and during the Civil War lies within them yet she is not the same woman that took us in after father's death. His death changed me too, but the Wars had taken my mother from him or so it is told…"

"Your father is…"

"Yes, you would know him well if you ever met my mother during the Wars…"

"I am sorry for your loss as none ever really understood Revan's intentions after the Wars, but it would seem any of us who went to war did not come back… someone else like us in body did, but not in mind…"

"You speak honestly… your fighting skills are remarkable and convey this honesty…"

The other sisters here were in reality half-sisters, but they encounter the Exile and the Last Handmaiden talking as if they are friends now. Vina offers to duel with them and they accept her offer. The basic forms are meant to be simple to build the fighter's understanding of the Echani tier progression. Vina almost effortlessly triumphs in the first two rounds, but the third involves fighting two simultaneously so she engages one then the other before switching back and forth. The fourth fight involves three before the last one involves her taking on all five, not six.

"You are dangerous, far too easily do you learn then utilize combat forms, but it will be liable to serve you well out there though know this next time we fight if that day ever comes we are likely to be opponents in real combat not these melee testing matches."

"Then I believe its time for me to take my leave of this place…"

"One more thing that human male you travel with he knows Echani forms…"

"Surely you must be joking…"

"No humor, none of that, but I would be wary asking about its origins for he is carrying secrets of his own… your weapons are aboard your ship…"

***

"I take it you found more than just the ship or these Echani Handmaidens…"

"Atris, one of my teachers, my master from before the Wars, runs this place, though I doubt she could truly make a new Order from this place despite the force potential in the only Handmaiden that I did not spar with in the training area…"

"There is more going on here than you know, but I believe it is time to go…"

"What happen to Atton?"

"I am awake, man, I really am sick of these cages, and why is he still lying down?"

"Forgive me, General…"

"It is alright Bao-Dur; let me get you three out of there…"

Kreia returns alone to the ship after catching glances from the five daughters of Yusanis, but the sixth daughter, the Last Handmaiden holds the Force sensitivity, from her mother most likely thinks Kreia. Another lost to the Wars is this one's mother, but many would consider her parentage improper given his status in Echani society and her history with the Jedi. Vina meanwhile releases T3 from the dampening field and his noises indicate that he had access to the outpost's databases despite his archives being copied by Atris.

T3 zips off to the ship with Bao-Dur jogging to catch up leaving Vina alone with Atton for the moment. He looks to her and she looks to him. He decides to keep moving before she grips his arm. He swings around dropping into the stance that she had seen the Last Handmaiden use during their scuffle in the corridor outside the Training Area. She smiles knowing that the combat had given him away like she said it would if she ever made a feint at him.

"What was that all about?" questions Atton

"I thought you were not much of a melee fighter…" answers Vina.

"You would be surprised how much appearance can end a brawl in a pazaak den…"

"I felt such ability would be useful…"

"Right, Let's just get out of here, I am little tired of being thrown in cells wherever we go, so as I said earlier, we should make for Nar Shadaa…"

***

The _Ebon Hawk_ lifts up then flies in reverse out of the hangar before swinging around then leaves the place behind them or at least Atton wants to believe that he pilots the ship towards the lane for Nar Shaddaa. He makes the jump and then they are off to the Smuggler's Moon. He heads back towards the Main Hold where the utility droid is plugging into the rebuilt central console. He is about to ask what is going on, but the holo-recording cuts him off.

"I think we found what we were looking for then…" says Kreia.

***

**Ten Years Earlier**

_The short lived 'peace' between the wars is coming to an end yet Vina felt a strong compulsion to face the Council, to explain herself, while others remain with Revan and Malak, at least those who could walk away from Malachor V. The intensity of the deaths was too much for her, and afterward somehow her Force connection had become something else, unlike the way it had been before yet also seem to be fading too somehow. She could feel them through the walls just barely as she nears the Council chambers atop the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. No matter how this went at least she had made the effort to defend herself and listen to their intentions towards her._

_"You know why we have summoned you?" questions Vrook_

_"For the Wars, for my part in it, for what I did at Malachor…" answers Vina._

_"The deaths especially those at Malachor are on your generation of Jedi, more so on you," continues Atris._

_"You were not there, you did not see what they have done to those people out there, it is one thing for you to sit there on your appointed seats and judge me, but what about them, what good does inaction serve them?" retorts Vina_

_"Our decision and action in that matter is not for you to question," responds Vrook._

_"You will not listen and I cannot believe that you do not hear anymore…" responds Vina._

_"You are hereby exiled from the Order, surrender your lightsaber…" replies Atris._

_Vina activates her lightsaber one last time then slams the active double blade into the stone pillar at the center of the chamber before walking away with exile armband on her upper arm. The other masters do not speak for several minutes, but when they do, the exchange is a revelation of sorts for some. The dark haired male interrupts attempt to rant further about the Exile's fall. Atris tries to counter him before the other woman on the Council interjects on the male's behalf._

_"Her journey is not at end though she did survive Malachor, more battles still in store for her though not at his side, she made her decision, she unlike so many others chose to face us… though she does not understand all of our intentions for casting her out… and I also find the two of you to be a bit heartless in all this…" says Kavar._

_"I agree with Kavar, we do not cast blame, we take responsibility, but in this case, we have no prior experience to fall back on so again at another time, we will have to speak to her again…"_

_"No more talk, she is already gone, she might as well be dead…"_

_"You are wrong Atris, she holds scars and wounds, but it has changed her, not for any way better or worse, she had that look… a look you will never understand…"_

_"Nevertheless, we have a larger threat to contend with from Revan and Malak…"_

***

**The Present en route to Nar Shaddaa**

"Now there is a bit of history…" remarks Atton.

"Yes, but after that brief encounter, they were literally having it out over my reluctantly agreed upon sentence…" responds Vina.

"Indeed, Atris seemed quite adamant to be done with you, but such disappointment fixation is unbecoming of a Master though she hardly seems one anymore. As for Vrook, I truly despised the man for the kind of attitude he showed in that recording. The most perceptive of the group seemed to be Vash and probably Kavar," remarks Kreia.

"What else did you find T3?" queries Vina.

[T3 responds in beeps and whistles]

"He said he had access to a range of Atris files, but most were dated or irrevelant except for the locations of the other Jedi Masters that are still out there…"

[T3 sounds off the locations]

"It looks like your search for the purported Lost Jedi is underway General…"

"It will take days to reach Nar Shaddaa, even at top speeds; somebody really needs to take a look at the engines… I nominate our new Iridonian mechanic…" chuckles Atton.

"Your confidence is so reassuring…" replies Bao-Dur.

He heads off to inspect what he later terms crude repairs that have kept the ship going, but it is need of an immediate overhaul. The mechanic and T3 set to work after the droid agrees to undergo maintenance and upgrades at the request of Vina. She returns to the medbay to sleep instead of bunking in the starboard dormitory for now. Atton remains in the cockpit counting cards in his head. Kreia meditates in port dormitory and she finds it curious that Atris did not send someone to infiltrate the group, but then again why would she need to if she really 'trusts' the Exile.

***

**Goto's Yacht**, **Location: Unknown**

The bounty hunters are separately brought aboard somewhere in the Y'Toub System. Word has come that the one of the targets is coming to the Smuggler's Moon after learning that the assassins sent after her aboard the _Harbinger_ and at Citadel Station. A trio of HK-50s enters first then enters a group of Duros and after them are the Twin Suns. Others that attend include the Gand, the Ubese, and Vogga's infiltrator, a Wookiee named Hanharr. The only one absent on purpose and for reasons known to all is she never kills her targets, that she always collect live bounties, not dead ones.

"_Word has come to me that a Jedi is coming here, specifically this one…"_

The hologram switches to one of Vina alternately referred to as the Exile or the Jedi Exile. Goto's disembodied voice provides a cursory background history on her, her ship, and her traveling companions at present. There are unconfirmed reports about an older woman in her company, but this is report is not taken too seriously. The hologram flicks to Atton Rand, his history, and then to Bao-Dur. The Iridonian/Zabrak has a wartime history with the Exile back when she had been a General in the Wars. As for the utility droid, he is a known former servant/companion of Revan.

"_The bounty for her is that she is brought to me alive, as for the others, you can do as you will, but again I remind you, she must survive any encounter with any of you…"_

The hologram winks off then all depart grudgingly to their ships, and all evidence of their encounter with the yacht is already gone. The bounty hunters vessels detach, then the yacht cloaks, and afterward another of Vogga's freighters is taken over by Goto's agents. Goto is notoriously unpopular with the Hutts since his rise to power among the criminal underworld in the Y'Toub System. Hanharr reports back to Vogga on the meeting, and he reports another of his ships taken after that encounter.

***

Elsewhere the only bounty hunter that reports to none except whoever pays her the most for live bounties settles in for another night alone. Her past is not unlike most who have called this moon home since the Mandalorian Wars. She had her share of regrets, of pain, of misery, of many things more that she could rarely summon the words. They had all taught her too well, but in this trade one learns the tricks quick or one is out of the hunt quickly enough. She again examines the forearm that she wears her wrist mounted rocket launcher on. She then removes the unit, takes it apart, then puts it back together, and gulps down some water.

She strips off her leather jacket and notes that the old guy she had given refuge to is looking more troubled than usual. She had known the look, but never thought it likely to see it on him. She sits down next to him and looks straight at him while brushing aside some loose strands in her auburn and orange hair. The eyes held the most intensity in her expression as he looks to her.

"Something is taking its course…"

"What does that mean?"

"The frenzy on this moon is topping out…"

"Goto summoned the entire lineup except me, but I can figure why he would not want me there, besides the Jedi bounty does not exactly exclude you…"

"I am grateful for your kindness…"

"You saved my life… I am just returning the favor…"

"You don't have to stay a bounty hunter forever…"

"This is the only thing I have had that has lasted me through the years on this moon…"

"You know what I mean, but whatever you decide, you are going to have to live with it."

"I know that Kai…"

"Sorry, I am just a tired old man most days…"

"You just rest now…"

She checks the locks that secure this secret inner chamber compartment, from the room that appears to be her apartment on the Docks, and then slips out to give the appearance of being at home when Fassa comes knocking for the keep. She pays the Twi'lek landlord, and he leaves to go heckle the other residents. Afterward she returns to find 'Kai' asleep in his bunk and she examines his belongings yet again finding knowing among the bits and pieces about his real past. She goes back to her bunk to sleep off the next few hours.

***

**The _Ravager_**

_A wound in the force, a pain that echoes across the galaxy, a whisper for a healing, and more than even these fragmented thoughts can tell me thinks the cloaked woman._

She rises and leaves the darkened sanctum that her master had put her in not long after their first encounter after the culling of Katarr. She had been the only survivor, a curiosity that had gotten his attention. He took her for his own like so many others, but her abilities made her useful for now. He summons her to the observatory chamber set slightly above the command deck of his command ship. It manages to keep flying despite the amount of damage it took from falling out of orbit during the Battle of Malachor V at the end of the Wars.

His speech is garbled to all who do not hear like she does, but she is not the only who hears this way. She begins speaking of the faint echoes she has heard, but he grips her by the throat with little more than a thought. She gasps for air, she begs for mercy, and he grants it before turning around to stare out into space. She offers to find the source of this emanation, he nods, she agrees to bring the source to him, he nods again, and she prepares to leave the ship. All that matters is the mission is the moment's thought.

_A memory, a scar, a flash, but this one does not take the weight of it like others have had like the Master yet they were both there when it happen, as unlike as two can be now._

***

**Nar Shaddaa, High Orbit**

**Several Days Later…**

The _Ebon Hawk_ lurches less when it exits hyperspace, which relieves everyone especially Bao-Dur having spent the better part of the jump working on the engines. The patchwork by the Peragian engineers held it together, but it could not keep flying on those crude fixes in his mind. The utility droid's capabilities were impressive especially after this many years in service and without memory wipes. The droid's personality proved difficult at times, but he took some sense of hope from the general's confidence in his abilities to maintain the mechanics of the ship, especially the droid.

He did not however feel terribly fond of the pilot that had been flying her ship, but then he saw that this Atton character had grown fond of his former commanding officer. The old crone that was in also in their company had her reasons for staying and probably had something to do with this situation though he could not say what for certain right now. Rand reports that they are descending to the Refugee Landing Pad. There was a look of familiarity on his face as he finally sets the ship down.

Kreia opts to stay behind this time instead of risking the strain of convincing this many people that she is not there. Someone else besides the pad manager notes their arrival, and Kreia's expected newcomer is that particular watcher. She would wait this one out too, but the watcher is equally cautious about approaching the ship. A wise reaction on her part thinks Kreia, but she will act sooner or later. T3 continues repairs as Vina, Atton, and Bao-Dur suit up for the trip into the fray of this section of Nar Shaddaa.

Vina persuades and bribes the Toydarian pad manager, but he warns her that another ship is expecting to find this pad empty. She says she will keep it in mind and the trio continues until they happen upon a Weequay and a Trandoshan harassing a human. The thugs quickly alert them to their status as Exchange enforcers, which do not exactly dissuade Vina's intervention. Bao-Dur wraps his bio-electric arm around the Trandoshan and Atton punches the Weequay right in the face.

"So can I persuade you to quit bugging these people or not?" asks Vina.

The Trandoshan is about to spit in her face, but Bao-Dur squeezes his throat too hard for the larger alien to release the spit. He chokes on it then Bao-Dur slams him into the nearby wall. Vina directs their former target to get out of here, he thanks her, but she refuses the reward. Another human refugee offers his service as an information source, and Vina pays him a couple of credits for whatever he can tell her down the line. A third man asks for some credits to keep him and his friends from starving for a couple of days.

"Here take the credits, a little extra for the rest of the week," answers Vina.

"Thanks so much Miss, you are a kind soul," replies the man.

Atton looks down with a slight smile admiring her generosity, but Bao-Dur beats the pilot in the comment department this time. Vina disconnects again as Kreia flashes her vision to a location not far from here with the man she just lent all those credits to and another man approaches knowing of her generosity. He demands that credits be given to him otherwise there would be consequences. The recipient of her credits is beaten within an inch of his life for refusing this bully. He loses the credits to other man and left to die alone.

"You with us General?" asks Bao-Dur

"Sorry, I was a little surprised by the positive reactions I have gotten in less than five minutes off the ship," answers Vina.

"The people are desperate, but they are not stupid or stubborn enough to turn away generosities from anyone, even a disguised Jedi…" remarks Atton.

"It felt good to help… something is wrong… quickly this way…"

The trio spots the wounded refugee who lost the credits Vina had given moments ago to an attacker that had already fled the scene. She tends to his injuries as he on the one hand is grateful to her, but still angry about losing the money as he is the financial provider to his family. They get him back to his family and Vina handles more credits yet hoping Kreia is not paying too close attention as before.

"You are very generous to even the most impoverished people, the very same left without much from the Wars that you fought in, but these people are not so hateful, so angry to turn away help even from an ex-Jedi General…"

"I would appreciate if you kept that sort of insinuation to yourself Rand!"

"Sorry Bao-Dur"

***

Atton retreats to a corner to play mental pazaak as usual while Vina chats with other refugees as the situation becomes clear that not only is the Exchange on the verge of enslaving the refugee population, but another faction is leaning on them too. The Serroco survivors have turn into a fledgling mercenary organization, and so had been dominating a substantial territory within the Refugee Zone. The Exchange also had its designs on the refugees.

Vina speaks to the Exchange overseer regarding a little girl about to be sold into slavery. It is simple enough to reason with him, but a touch of the Force tugs him in the right direction to release the girl back to her mother. However getting them to back off the refugees is not working leading them towards open combat with the Overseer and his bodyguards, a band of Weequays. Bao-Dur slams one with his cybernetic arm, which stuns the Weequay temporarily. Atton knocks two together knocking them out while Vina tosses the fourth into a nearby wall.

The Overseer alerts the rest of his forces nearby of the situation before he is facing Vina holding a heavily modified blade to his throat. Saquesh is indifferent as it is not the first time someone made threats against him. The remaining Exchange numbers are Gamorreans whom have little else in mind, but their deaths for threatening their boss. A battle is upon them again, which does not surprise Atton as they seem to find themselves fighting everyone else as of late.

Atton fires head shots at the Weequay bodyguards then whips out two swords to counter the Gamorreans with their axes. Bao-Dur arms himself with a pair of upgraded blasters, and displays a second to none mastery of firearms. Vina directs her attention to the unseen movements of the Gamorreans, and all Saquesh can do is watch until the rest of his men are dead leaving him alone with a trio of exhausted aliens.

"Now would you care to renegotiate this situation with the refugees or not?"

"I am afraid I have to refuse because it is not the Exchange's policy to deal with interlopers…. So you will just have to kill me, which seems about right with the rest of them dead at my feet. Any deal whatsoever ends in my death, not from you necessarily, but the Exchange most definitely."

"You would be a dead man to them, especially a deal with a bounty marked Jedi."

"I believe we have an understanding… so one of you have the nerve to shoot or slice."

Atton kills Saquesh with a head shot and the last gasp from Saquesh is one of thanks for a quick death. There still remains the matter of the Serroco mercenaries on the other side of the quad. They head that way well aware of another gang battle awaiting them there. Vina occasionally looks over her shoulder, not for her companions, but something else, nearby watching them, not just one something, rather two. The Serroco mercenaries allow them entrance after she hints at helping them against the Exchange.

However like before the boss is not apt to trust her, and so they fight the mercenaries to the last man. One of the two watchers notes she is drawing too much attention to herself. The other reads more to the flow of energy between her and her companions as if she had been a catalyst to their actions after two failed negotiations. The second notices the first despite the fact that the first is well hidden from visual sighting methods, but not all sight is based on visuals as the second understood all too well.

The trio returns to the refugees' de facto leader Hussef who is talking to another refugee, a woman. Vina apologizes for further interruptions, she informs him of the fate of her attempted negotiations, and their failures leading to battling both sides to the death. Hussef thanks her for the assistance despite the violent outcomes. She offers up spare medical supplies to the refugees before turning to leave the quad behind them. A pair of male Twi'leks intercepts them on the way out.

They call out to Vina in Huttese, and she responds in kind to them. After a terse chat, the pair leaves them to the darkened pathway back to the Landing Pad. Vina runs her hands through her hair before telling Bao-Dur to take point as she hangs the middle leaving Atton behind her. The walk back to the pad is an uneventful one. Bao-Dur returns to the Hawk alone to swap out his weapons. Vina turns to Atton wondering if that is his real name and what the Twi'leks meant about his dark past.

"Those Twi'leks seem to know you Rand…"

"I don't remember knowing any male Twi'leks…"

"They said you were here after the Jedi Civil War mixing in with the mercenaries, ex-soldiers, refugees, and all the rest here on the smuggler's moon…"

"You are taking the word of strange Twi'leks over mine?"

"I think you start being honest for a change!"

"Why the hell should I tell you anything?"

"We are in this together Atton…"

"You Jedi, so full of yourself, and you of all people, the charismatic Jedi General, heck even the Mandalorians never did anything as brutal as what happen at Malachor V."

"I did what I thought what was right, but even then, I had been dead wrong and all the dead of that battle can echo my decision. The very one that got me exiled from the Jedi Order, but then I was the only one to go back to face the Council and their judgment."

"The Jedi don't kill prisoners though some might think you, Malak, and Revan could have been exceptions. At the least with Sith you know what you are getting from them even when its summarily dealt as unrepentant evil by the Jedi."

"The Sith were after me on Peragus, and you by extension have become a target as have the others with us. Now the Exchange, the list will grow longer, and they will not stop with my death."

"I'm not afraid of dying, the whole thing with living is that you are always paying for it, not with just credits, but with pieces of yourself, little by little until you cannot recognize the person in the mirror anymore…"

"What are you talking about?"

"I served the Republic during the Wars, but when Revan and his armies came back, we like that the later turncoats did not make much of turning on the Republic. I saw Revan had a plan to the campaigns, a plan, which was later abandoned by Malak. Revan only took out impediments to a civilization that could hold against the real threat."

"Malak's attempt to seize the mantle later failed as Revan and the first crew of the_ Ebon Hawk_'sstruggle to defeat him. Whatever outcome had been after Revan's defeat of Malak, it had been a hollow victory if the current state of things is proof enough."

"They were hailed as heroes, but the aftermath of had shown the Republic to be too busy with the fallout of the Civil War's end."

"Things have been unraveling for a long time, I went away as I was told, but now I am back, and I will do what I must…"

"What you must? Who made you the next savior of the galaxy lady?"

"I regret what happen during the Wars, what took place during the Civil War, but now I or rather we have a chance to make some kind of difference…"

"These people never made a call for Jedi help, then or now…"

"I set things in motion wherever I go, but they will have to push its course…"

"I can see there is no derailing you…"

"You might as well tell me your story…"

"It begins more or less during the Mandalorian Wars. I was a soldier, a pilot, but that is not the worst of it. Those who made it through the wars under Revan's banner were different afterward. People would disappear; come back different or not come back at all. After the Wars, Malachor V became the crucible of Revan's conversion methods."

"What was your part in this conversion?"

* * *

A/N 1: Despite the three character limit in-game, all participate in some fashion in this story. Bao-Dur is more talkative then in-game plus a little warmer in speak too. His repairs to the ship seem perpetually incomplete though eventually in this story he does finish.

A/N 2: Atris and Vina have history, the Mandalorian Wars divided the Jedi especially masters and apprentices. It didn't sound too clear in-game just how close they were, but most of this is based on the later holo-recording of the trial. Vina also has something of a chat with the Last Handmaiden in regards to her parents as well as the Force.

A/N 3: the bounty hunters of Nar Shaddaa making a brief appearance aboard Goto's Yacht except for Mira. Mira and 'Kai' have been sharing a living space in secrecy for some time now, there are hints to his identity. Visas makes an appearance as well setting the stage for her encounter with Vina.

A/N 4: Atton's past is discovered by Kreia when ripping into his memories that he has been trying to conceal from the old 'witch' and once found out he prefers as many know that Kreia say nothing, that he should be left to handle telling Vina on his own terms. Her reaction next chapter.


	4. Three: Past Ghosts

"My part had been one I did not see coming, but I had no objections to it, not at first anyway. I became one of the Assassins, something of a misnomer, the current incarnation, the ones we fought on the Harbinger, are different, and no capture intentions, just eliminate the target. Back then, Revan sent Assassins to capture whomever they were told to go after."

**Several Years Earlier**

_A female Jedi is on the run from seemingly invisible operatives led by Atton Rand. They were finally closing in on her as she grows tired of running, but in a final gesture she kills several of the operatives as they uncloak around her. Atton however manages to disarm her before she can get him like the others. She detects a faint sign of why within him, but then he knocks her out and carries her on his back to the unit's vessel. The remaining operatives get the ship up and running as he locks her away._

_It would be a long trip back to Malachor V from this side of the galaxy. He had grown to lose interest in the constant hunting of the Jedi. They were rarely a challenge anymore and he had only found this one to be worth the trouble as she had killed several of his comrades before he got to her. He had however used them as distractions, as dispensable, but the fatality rate among the Assassins had variations by target._

_Sometimes the count is incredibly low, and at others it raises a few eyebrows though the captures as a whole have been successes. She had little left to her except a weakened connection to the Force. Atton orders the others to handle the ship while he deals personally with the prisoner. He enters to see her wriggling in her restraints, but it is of not use as her powers cannot regenerate due to the concentration of dark auras on the vessel. He removes his mask for the first time in a long while, but for all the dark intensity he seems to exude, she finds an opening that she works on ever so lightly, which escapes his notice for the moment._

_"Typical Jedi arrogance…"_

_"Perhaps, but outnumbering is not the way of the Sith, your kind are different despite the trappings that vaguely resemble the Sith…"_

_"We are not Sith, not in the way you seem to think of them. The others and I were taught the same melee techniques taught to Jedi, to learn them, to study them, to find weaknesses to exploit…"_

_"Our reliance on melee has always been a fall back method should the Force prove ineffective against our opponents."_

_"You seem to not rely much on them, at least not until the others with me had you boxed in with no alternative except to kill or surrender…"  
"It is not the Jedi way to kill defenseless opponents or to kill when not necessary…"_

_"No one is defenseless, no one is beyond killing, just a matter of what it will take to convince someone of why being cunning and ruthless are necessary traits."_

_"You make much of words not your own…"_

_"What would you know of my words or thoughts… you are trying to break into my mind, but you find that harder than you expect given the training to prevent such openings."_

_"There is always a way…"_

_"You keep telling yourself…"_

_Atton freezes unable to move then in a tremor grabs his head as if it is on fire and feels unable to drive her out of his thoughts. The shuddering stops leaving him in a dark place with only a faint light in the distance. He begins to run sensing something or someone behind him. The darkness is gaining and the light seems further and further away until a hand reaches out to pull him up from the depths. It is the female Jedi captive who gives him that look of knowing as if some secrets within him would destroy him if they should become known especially to the Dark Masters._

_"You know what you must do to save me and more importantly to save yourself…"_

_He jerks out of the trance after closing his astral hands around her otherworldly throat. She is dead, but a beautiful deathly smile is upon her face as in her last words echo in his mind. She thanks him, tells him he must leave this is all behind, to find his real purpose, and to regain his life through others. He exits the brig and uses his most unfeeling methods to kill the remaining few Assassins quickly. At the next hyperspace exit, he reverts to sub light then plots a new course for Nar Shaddaa._

_He returns to the brig to find that she had gone though her robes like her lightsaber were left behind. An act of the Force perhaps, but even he could not be certain. The smuggler's moon had long since become a cold refugee to the displaced survivors of the Mandalorian Wars. He sold the ship to the Hutts who would later regret as the crews were all driven insane by the ghosts that were always seen during hyperspace jumps until finally one pilot drove it into a sun. The miscalculation had been intentional as this unknown pilot knew well enough._

_Atton eventually throws her lightsaber into the void that always been a part of the smuggler's moon. Her robes did not get much in the way of the credits, but it had been enough. He spent years living there until one day, her Force ghost appears to him, and moves toward him to kiss him. In those seemingly brief moments before her death he had come to care about her enough to kill her before the Sith could twist her into someone she could not recognize as herself. She had the look of I rather die than become a merciless tool of that brand of leadership._

_Years on the moon finally drove him to space again and to a route that made him a black market trader to the Peragus Mining Facility. A stop that had been out of the way, unlikely to be a trouble spot, but then there are no places where people will not go, regardless of their intentions. After awhile, they finally made a call to arrest for various violations of shipping regulations, which got him a cell until Vina had come along not long after that took place. She and Vina had such a resemblance in his mind, but then love is endless or at least he likes to believe so._

**Nar Shaddaa (now)**

Vina almost cries, and places her hands on his shoulders before pulling him towards her. He slowly wraps his arms around her as he whispers 'I killed her because I loved her, she was willingly to die to keep me from becoming what she could have become if I gave her up to them.' Vina whispers 'I know, but you can still become more like she thought you could.' He says to Vina that he would like to pursue Jedi training through her. She agrees sensing his genuine interest in the pursuit.

They begin with the basics and advance from there as Bao-Dur observes with concern for his former commander and this enigmatic pilot that is strongly drawn to her. He looks upwards after catching a faint clank above him, but as soon as it had been heard, it is gone. He looks to Vina who notices his hinting upward with a twitch suggestion with his eyes. She stares upward reaching out with the Force and detects a watcher though pretends to not notice for the sake of their tracker or trackers.

The trio asks Aaida to join them as rumors had been passing around of other Telosian refugees outside the zone. She follows them out after hearing that both the Exchange and the Serroco are out of the picture. The four pass through the landing pads and it is then that Atton recalls that the bribed stationmaster had been worrisome about another ship that already had a stake on the _Hawk_'s landing pad. He whispers this to Bao-Dur who notices something is up, but decides to follow his ex-General's lead until she decides to return there.

***

Mira follows the pipes from the Zone to the Docks. She however detects she is not the only one attempting to be discreet above the Jedi. The other tracker is not local, but certainly hides their movements well enough aside from the occasion acoustic echoes. Mira is also certain that the other tracker is not a bounty hunter because no bounty hunter is as close to a shadow as she is unless someone new from outside the system is encroaching on the moon's bounty hunter turf.

As a test Mira tosses a metal bit of flint towards the general direction, but notices it bounces back at her before even getting halfway across. The Jedi is too far ahead and too far down to be doing that so another Force user besides the Jedi is here. Mira side steps the flint as it lodges itself in a pipe behind her. She reverts back to catching up to Jedi as she deals with Vogga's dock master Fassa who agrees to a few different deals and offers made by the Jedi.

"What a girl scout that Jedi is being, but so stupid, she does not realize that the bounty affects not just her… she endangers those idiots foolish enough to follow her… she is in unexpectedly good shape after all these years too though…"

Aaida and Lootra have their reunion while Lassavou's debt is taken care of in short order. The freighter schedule is back on track as well, but there is also a strange trail being left behind by seemingly unrelated incidents involving droids throughout the Refugee Sector. Bao-Dur opts to return to the _Hawk_ saying there are things he needs to take care of aboard ship in terms of repairs. Vina reminds him that it can wait, but the engineer calmly reminds her that not everything can be put off indefinitely. She accepts his logic.

Atton finds his way into the pazaak den for a few rounds after Vina bribes for a password. She heads for the Cantina where she picks up some extra juma juice for later after learning how to break into Vogga's vault. Mira enters the Cantina then sits next to Vina and orders a few drinks, the bounty hunter offers to share, which Vina accepts despite noticing the glint of a wrist mounted launcher underneath Mira's jacket sleeve. The two talk for awhile before Atton comes up behind Vina kissing her on the neck, but Vina taps his face with a closed fist, which sends him toppling over.

The pilot shakes it off after noticing she is a little drunk and the look of this red haired woman alerts him to the possibility that his companion, his would be love is drinking with a bounty hunter. Mira chuckles then takes a quiet exit as Atton takes her seat. Vina blushes and softly apologizes for hitting him like that, but she did not immediately realize it was him despite the familiarity of him through the Force. He politely accepts it then kisses her on the lips, and she does not resist him this time.

They dance for awhile as some bad music plays in the background, but neither seems to entirely notice or care about that until Vina spots someone that might have some connection to Vogga. After multiple dancers prove to be serious disappointments, Vina seems like a miracle send to this Twi'lek majordomo. He hands a box to Atton then instructs them to follow him back to Vogga's dock side residence. He directs Vina to a dressing room where she changes into the dancer's outfit, which meets a grinning approval from Atton.

She smiles at him just as the majordomo hand signals her to follow him leaving Atton to look after Vina's belongings. The dance gig takes awhile to cause Vogga to drift off then Atton enters carrying the juma juice, which she pours in the bowl that a pair of kath hounds drink from then she breaks into the vault with Atton's help. Afterward once back in her regular clothes she negotiates a deal for a new fuel source for Telos, which again cracks a slight smile in Atton as he admires her usual boldness.

The catch however is that she must deal with Goto, which basically means he must be out of the picture so Vogga and the other crime lords, can take back the hold that Goto has held on the criminal underworld here on the smuggler's moon. The pair comes across a wounded Bao-Dur just beyond the corridor to the landing pad. Vina starts treating his wounds as Atton takes a peek around the corner then slips back mouthing something to Vina. She whispers what is it, who do you see, but Bao-Dur interrupts again.

"Another ship, slavers, that Toydarian was right to warn us, you realize what you got us into Rand, Trandoshans have our ship, so how do you propose to fix this one huh?"

"Calm down, we need a plan, not a verbal sparring match, as for what you two have to say to each other, that can wait for the moment, I hope you two can agree there."

"Agreed," reply Atton and Bao-Dur.

Vina hands Bao-Dur another lightsaber piece she found in Vogga's vault and at last he can put them together to make a new lightsaber for Vina. She asks for a double blade, and he constructs it on a workbench in the swoop bike shop nearby. He hands it to her; she holds it then activates her new weapon. The lavender glow shines through the darkness of the shop, and they head towards the pad to clear out the slavers that have taken hold of their ship.

The Trandoshans inevitably fight back yet with it is useless as Vina's blade slice through their weapons as the others gun them down. The trio initiates a staggered assault path towards the ship. Mira watches from the rooftops above their position. The other watcher is nearby, but keeping distance from both the bounty hunter and the exile target. The Trandoshans continue to fall by the wayside as each of three covers each other's advances.

Atton is hit by an unseen Trandoshan, which sends him flying off the side yet there is no scream or shout, not a sound. A loose series of cords provide decent grip as Atton force jumps back up and in mid flight he power blasts his attacker, sending the surprised Trandoshan into the loading ramp. Vina smiles weakly in relief that he is physically okay. She charges straight at the remaining two then does a wide sweep slicing both in the chest then comes two audible thuds as their corpses hit the deck.

Once aboard more the slavers are actively engaging them as they battle their way from the port side to the starboard side. Strangely Kreia is absent in the Force and in body as well. At least until the slavers nearest to the starboard dormitories can be seen smashing into the corridor bulkheads then falling to the deck plates. Kreia emerges flinging more in her path using the handless arm. Vina jabs, parries, and slices her way through to the Security/Communications room just behind the tiny bridge.

The remaining Trandoshans fight to the end, but Vina's lightsaber makes their end quick and short. She exhales then switches off her weapon then orders Atton and Bao-Dur to remove the slaver corpses, which they do in short order awhile later. The pair then returns aboard. Both pass Vina without a word, which seems strange, but it has been a long day, both are tired in appearance. They both head to the aft cargo bay, which is opposite the ship's garage.

She hears the cargo hold doors locking, which she goes to check on only to find she cannot override the lockout then she searches for T3 who is in standby mode in the sec-com room.

She cycles through the cameras, but instinctively stops at the port dormitory after seeing a figure clad in dark clothing with a dark red hood that goes over the eyes. Someone had gotten into the ship without tripping any alarms at all. Vina slowly makes her way to the intruder's location. As she enters, the figure, a woman ends her meditation then activates a lightsaber and proceeds to attack Vina. Vina counters with her own before driving the female intruder back yet holds back after disarming this woman.

"You must kill me… I have failed…if I return without you… I am dead…"

"I will not kill you, you are hurt, let me get you to the medbay…"

The hooded woman passes out as Vina carries her to the medbay where Atton enters minutes later. He grunts then lowly gasps at the hooded woman. During a brief examination, multiple wounds, fractures, scars, and more are found throughout this woman's body. Vina questions him about her as he seems to know something of her species. His response is somewhat astonishing to her considering what he mentions about the fate of her presumed home world.

"I didn't think there were any still alive considering what happen to Katarr or at least what I heard about its destruction, and it took place around the same time that the Jedi Order began vanishing in great numbers than before."

"Katarr became another causality of something more. Something that would come for the Jedi and the Sith. The two have been at for generations, but so seems their fate to be stuck crossing blades no matter whose armies are at their backs or not at all."

"You see why people are reluctant to trust Jedi especially after they seem to abandon the Galaxy following their presumed victory at the end of the Jedi Civil War."

"Yes I am beginning to understand where something of your distrust comes from besides what happen during your service to the Republic and the then Darth Revan."

"Hopefully this one recovers, she will have something to say for herself, it is good that you saved her, not just because we need her help, but because she can now have the chance to break from whoever is responsible for this."

"I believe you maybe right, but I almost fear what will be necessary to accomplish that feat for her. She will have some part in that, she has to, and otherwise it is meaningless for her."

"You know I'm not very good at expressing myself, but lately it has become easier, if that's the word for it, to express myself. I hope that whatever draws us together never fades aside from what happen during the jump to Telos."

"Atton, the fact that I am training you, makes a complication for us in that way."

"I had a very slight feeling or notion you might say that, but hear me, I do have feelings for you, and I suspect you have feelings for me too."

"I do, it has been a long time since I have felt anything unrelentingly positive, something that echoes feelings I thought I would never feel again. This maybe one of the rare opportunities for this so come with me. If something happens with her, we'll know soon enough."

***

Her robes are soon on the floor as is his vest and with each passing moment something more is contributing to the pile of clothes. Atton divides his attention between her and mental pazaak, which is quite a feat for him, as he vaguely worries that Kreia, may be onto him. He pushes it out of mind as Vina kisses him like she had never done before, but then he had only that rough experience in transit to Telos lingering in his mind. Audible chirps and whistles can be heard through the hatch separating the port dormitories from the corridor that connects it to the main hold.

Atton and Vina quickly replace their clothes then Vina exits ahead of him then ducks into the medbay. Atton takes the longer way through the garage workshop that Bao-Dur had been revamping since their departure from Telos. Atton makes it into the main hold before spotting Vina who is talking the newest member of the new crew of the _Ebon Hawk_. Kreia looks to the almost Sith among them, but realizes that the Miraluka is not useless though hopes her apprentice, the Exile, Vina sees opportunity in this too. The hologram flickers then resolves into a miniaturized image of a Quarren who identifies himself as Visquis.

_"Greetings, I would hardly expect you to take this message at face value, but you have become a rather reputable character before setting foot on this moon, but your interference in multiple Exchange holdings is raising the stakes…"_ [Translation]

_"… I invite you and you alone to join me in a meeting to deal with the situation. Otherwise your companions will pay the price for your refusal. It's a deal through me or being on the receiving end of the bounty hunters on your trail even now. My boss has made a rather fragile accord with them…"_ [Further translation]

_"I remind you again dealing with me directly will be better for your allies. If you come, come alone Jedi."_ [Final translation]

Each looks from one to another after the transmission ends. Each knows no matter the decision the whole thing screams trap though the scream is more like a hoarse whisper from shouting across a great distance. Vina bags the environmental suit before heading out and Atton predictably takes off after her leaving the others on the landing pad. Kreia looks to the Miraluka and the Miraluka looks at the older woman through her masking hood.

"_Why would a Jedi hide here?" wonders Visas._

"_Why not Seer?" queries Kreia._

"_You know telepathy?" responds Visas._

"_It is hardly difficult to master with an open mind," replies Kreia_

"_The energy about this moon, there is enough noise to drown out everything unless you were alert of what to look for amidst the chaos of the frenzy that is these people's lives."_

"_Indeed, I see that you have not forgotten everything your people taught you nor the things that your lord had wrought upon your mind or your body."  
"What my lord is something only you or I could grasp when facing him."_

Vina heads for the bar with Atton on her tail and Mira following her from above. The three draw nearer to the docks as a fourth joins Mira in the overlook. Vina turns to face Atton as Mira finds a claw gripping her throat as her body grows limp beneath her. The lovers have their moment as the bounty hunters trade verbal blows. Both conversations continue unaware of the other. Atton takes his leave of Vina after taking a spare lightsaber from her while handing off some medical supplies to her.

***

Mira grips Hanharr's massive forearm as he grunts and howls at her. The argument is short, but then he drops her with a parting reminder that this is not over. She knows full well that it will only end with one of them dead. She knows this from the repeated encounters with Hanharr since their first run-in years earlier. The truce between the bounty hunters would only last so long as none went after the target or each other. Only so many could be held to that promise, and Hanharr is decidedly not one of them. Hanharr vanishes before she shakes off the after effects of near asphyxiation.

She drops down straight above Vina, but finds herself stuck in midair thanks to an unexpected catch through the Force. Vina lowers her to the ground as she asks to be let down as they need talk in private. The two women head indoors to Mira's safe house off the docks. Vina had almost felt a surprise discovering the wall in the deceptively small apartment had actually been concealing a larger space in the back. She can feel a trace of others' passages in here including a 'missing' or rather hiding Jedi Master.

"Visquis is cutting the bounty hunters out of the loop as all of us want to bring you in, but with this larger of an ensemble going after you there are inherent rivalries. Visquis is easily using to this advantage particularly in his temporary partnership with Hanharr."

"It seems a typical tactic among criminals and politicians alike to ensure the greatest benefit to them above all else. The fallout amounts to their allies and supporters either remaining as such or finding themselves without anyone to help them."

"It is a trap meant for you Jedi, but you are not going anywhere near him."

"You mind explaining why and what is that smell. Something feels wrong about the air."

"You caught it quicker than most, but most tend to pass out long before now. I have the injection to counteract the effects, which I will administer to you after you are out cold, but it will not kick in automatically."

Vina grabs Mira's ballistic jacket, but her grip is easily undone as Mira knocks her to the floor with a light push. The gas is strong enough to null her Force powers, but then she had not cause to consider anyone trying something without her knowing yet this Mira is far from direct unlike most of her recent opponents. Mira unpacks the environmental suit that Vina had been carrying in a satchel then suit up before heading towards the Jekk'Jekk Tarr. Surveillance outside the bar is likely so putting it on in her safe house made sense to ensure the effectiveness of the disguise.

***

Mira enters the bar and restraints her reactions to cracks about the suit. The fumes in the bar are toxic to humans after awhile and so she passes from the section to section. Each cluster tends to be populated by one segment or another of the Vertical City's alien population. Most would attack on sight if given cause to attack anyone, which would be likely if someone gave away certain details about any patron. The injection should eventually kick in on the Jedi she thinks to herself, but at least I can put a stop to this before then.

She finally reaches Visquis' private lounge where she spots Hanharr waiting alongside the Quarren. Nobody likes working for Goto, but he had proven to be too clever and cunning to be beaten by anyone so the Exchange as a whole leaves him alone in his seclusion on his phantom yacht. Nobody had also ever really seen him either and nobody could really figure out how he got such rapid control of the biggest rackets on the smuggler's moon. She prepares to remove the suit and reveal herself to the off guard pair before her.

Hanharr reacts instantly, but is held back by Visquis' insistence that he hold a moment. Visquis realizes soon enough that this is not the Jedi despite relative physical similarities between the two women. He crosses his arms and prepares to test his new security measures against this interloper whom Hanharr identifies as Mira. Her reputation for delivering live bounties even when the dead pays higher is well known even to the criminals like Visquis and the crime lords such as Goto.

It is for this reason that she is often given the most lucrative contracts from him to the chagrin of Hanharr and others less so. She is impressive at least as far as fooling him, but then the deception would have been up eventually anyway. He actives the sequence from memory, but holds off on the execute command. Mira senses confusion and hesitation, but she had always been a very perceptive bounty hunter. The latent precognition and atypical sensitivity had been useful tools in this profession.

_"Perhaps this setback is to our advantage now the Jedi will come for her and for the others in her company. I have already told the other hunters that the Jedi's companions are open season and you my dear Mira have made your last mistake."_ [Translation]

Mira felt the jolt too late to dodge it and passes out cursing incoherently as she went down from the shocks sent through the floor beneath her. A pair of Ubese carries her into the tunnels within moments leaving Visquis and Hanharr to wait for the Exile. A delay at best probably on Mira's part had kept the meeting on hold. The Quarren orders a drink to pass the time until the real target gets here.

***

"_A friend has gone in your stead and I must go after her. How you found out I was here is something of a mystery, but your questions will have to wait until after I gotten my friend back safely. It means you will have to play a part in this endeavor too."_

Vina regains control of her limbs after Zez-Kai Ell's second disappearing act to recover Mira, but somehow she felt he would not get very far, leaving the resolution to the situation on her shoulders. Vina checks her weapons before heading again towards the Jekk'Jekk Tarr. As she enters the chamber between the outside and inside, the air tastes as if the gas is affecting her though she realizes without the environmental suit she is vulnerable in this atmosphere.

"_Calm yourself as I will teach you how to breathe without harm in any atmosphere even one toxic like this. It is an older technique one I took years to master, but you always seem to master many techniques as if copying or mirroring whomever you learning the method from… now breathe and get moving time is as always of the essence."_

***

Visquis expresses disbelief that the Jedi had gotten through and so he alerts the bar's patrons to her identity and they begin attacking her on sight as he joins Hanharr below in his hideaway. He expresses a stunted admiration for the Jedi's persistence as he knows well from her history that she is a survivor, something many are failing to recognize especially his one time partner Visquis. The Quarren redirects his Wookiee associate's attention to an unconscious Mira in the pit arena below them and tells him here he can kill Mira without breaking the truce.

Hanharr descends below carrying two vibroswords and eager to purge himself of his aberrant life debt to Mira. Her time is nearing soon enough yet he notices she is not without her own weapons or traps likely set in the pit arena too. She is nearly back on her feet as he swings his weapons in her direction. The scraping of the blades spreads sparks throughout yet Mira notes the mines all around them so she tumbles knowing she can dodge them where Hanharr cannot recalling their first encounter.

She also fires a spread of grenades from her wrist mounted launcher. Hanharr takes most of the blasts in stride, but he is getting slower and his wounds are adding up. She directs another round at him then he nearly falls dead on top of her if she had not made one last roll out of the way. Visquis' eyes show signs of surprise, but he unleashes the animals on her though she deals with them in similar precision. Mira rifles around looking for keys to unlock the only point of entry and exit. Visquis' henchmen consist entirely of Ubese, which are far more adept at melee combat than she had thought possible yet she holds her own sensing that the Jedi is not far behind now.

Visquis is on the run with a contingent of his bodyguards, but the alert to the security lockdown being taken offline angers him enough to order the deaths of any and all intruders Jedi or otherwise. They will follow so long as they have no cause to disobey the Quarren, but then he is not the only one they take orders from around here. Mira disables the rest of the security protocols before making her way to the escape elevator that Visquis and his Ubese guards had left in order to find out who broke the lockdown.

As she returns to above ground area, 'Kai' is waiting for her, but someone had been his shadow. A cloaked figure blurs in and out of sight then descends into Visquis' hideaway below the docks. The figure observes Vina cutting her way through the bodyguard contingent told to kill her, but the figure already knows that they will not succeed, not for the lack of trying rather their real boss is a dejarik player. No game can be won without pawns, but each piece is not without use, as there are moves within moves. Never immediately clear even to those that initiate the move as they barely grasp the complexity and the subtlety of what is happening on the board.

Vina finally enters and engages in a verbal standoff with her Quarren caller who reveals that he is not the architect of the Jedi bounty hunt. This mysterious Goto is the one behind it, but like Vina, the figure knows next to nothing about him aside from him rising quickly through the Exchange ranks in a short space of time. He attempts to gas her, but it fails as it had earlier. He is again wearing a face of astonishment as the Ubese survivors rejoin him yet instead of going after the Jedi, they surround him. One advances poisoned staff in hand.

"You never did work for me, you were Goto's men all along, such a fool I am. Goto, I give you the Jedi as a gift, take her and spare me, I have made my mistakes enough."

"_You remember my directives regarding the Jedi. You knowingly broke them by consorting and toying with the bounty hunters. You also made efforts to kill the Jedi when capture had become untenable. I am afraid your betrayal warrants death."_

"Wait; there is no need for killing now!"

Visquis collapses to the floor besides the corpse of Hanharr and the floor electrifies underneath Vina rendering her unconscious. The Ubese ferry her off to Goto's yacht presumably leaving the figure alone with the corpses.

The shadowy figure takes to one in particular, the corpse of Hanharr. The figure struggles to resurrect him as he had only been dead a short while. In his rage he tries to grab the figure's neck, but is unable as he collapses into a kneeling posture then begins to beg for death again. The figure will not grant and instructs him to continue his hunt of the huntress while she travels with the Exile.

The strange pair vanishes from this place leaving behind only the dead who can only leave warnings of struggle that confronts the living with the dying. It would not be the last time this figure would wrestle with death, but then dejarik is a game of moves within moves. Dejarik like war depends on the capabilities of the strategist as such players or leaders can triumph where others will always fail, and not because they are better at, rather because they can do what others cannot or will not do in that position. Dejarik is like the Force is not always about training, but other things like the will of the user.

***

Atton encounters Mira after discovering T3's 'disappearance' from the _Ebon Hawk_. At the same time or nearly simultaneously, the quirky astromech droid found his way into Vogga's warehouse and gains access to the hidden communications section. He also learns someone or something is funneling the transponder codes to Goto, and like other incidents there is always a droid at the scene. T3 returns with the codes for several of Vogga's ships and a blank transponder encoder. Atton in a less subtle way asks Tienn and Bao-Dur to swap the _Ebon Hawk_'s I.D. codes with those of the _Silver Zephyr_.

The group returns to the ship and preps for takeoff figuring the yacht will fall for the ruse. At least they hope so as it is absolutely necessary to recover Vina personal reasons aside. The freighter barely makes it out of orbit before detecting energy surges all around them then as if appearing from nowhere the yacht overtakes them and locks them into multiple tractor beams. Bao-Dur agrees to remain behind at the controls while Atton and Mira go after Vina. Visas also remains to search Vina out through the Force trying to find Vina yet Kreia's absence goes unnoticed, which is how she prefers it as she is keeping tabs on Zez-Kai Ell back at the Vertical City.

***

Vina comes around to see a floating droid near her, and it resembles models often used for interrogation droids yet this one seems to only be a mechanical guard. A hologram flickers on before her. She figures this must be Goto in some shape or form. He is nothing like she had thought likely of a crime lord as a somewhat older looking man yet he had seemingly unlimited resources at his disposable. Vina nearly opens her mouth, but Goto interrupts her.

However at that moment he too faces an interruption in the form of intruder alert alarms going off. The security cameras in the room reveal that Mira and Atton are fighting their way through Goto's security droids and doing rather well. The hologram dissolves to devote the yacht's full power supply to its defensive capabilities. Mira's wrist launcher is highly effective with maximum spread and yield per explosion whereas Atton is turning from a marksman to a swordsman. After all, the weapon is mere an extension of will and intensity of mind as both overcome the opponent from within.

No droid, no programming for that matter is as adapting as the human mind or as resilient as the human body. The various programs make it simpler to disable, overload, or shut down the defense mainframe's subsystems. As if by the both the numbers, a scoundrel turn Jedi and a bounty hunter could actually cripple a crime lord's organization at the source while saving Vina too. Vina had seen many things in her travels, but nothing quite like the company she had around her now. Whatever had drawn this unique band together, it could never be more apparent then when their numbers seem to act as a single being.

Kreia had spoken of her ability to direct others, to lead the way, but it had often been said to her in the past that such an ability is dangerous especially at her trial by the Council. The exact circumstances of her depowered state following the Wars had been a source of speculation, but Atris' records of her trial had proven one thing at least, that neither side could exist without the other. It drove at an age old question of what could any of this mean not only for Jedi and Sith, but everyone else too. Answers like the future is elsewhere and elusive, but as experience had taught her, she must be mindful of the present alone for the moment.

One by one, the defensive protocols are taken offline or taken out. They finally breach the audience chamber where Vina floats in a zero gravity field. Mira notes the annoyance in Atton's demeanor as if he had strong emotional ties to the woman he had initially only would paint as a leading woman. A bounty hunter does not exactly earn their keep without learning habitual qualities of their targets. Mira then hacks the control console to disable the zero gravity field generators.

Atton catches Vina as she drops yet he had not known her exact weight so the drop sent both dropping to the floor. Mira smirks then chuckles as Vina moves to get up, but Atton steals a kiss in plain view of Mira. Vina almost blushes before grabbing her gear and her lightsaber. The trio head for the bridge in order to disable the tractor beams holding the Hawk in the yacht's moorings. The security droids and the mines are in the way however, but Mira rigs the mines to blow then lures the droids towards them.

Nearly all are caught in the blast leaving the stragglers clearly at a disadvantage, and Vina mops them up with ease. Mira realizes that while the Jedi maybe the last of her kind, she is not about to go down without a fight or whatever it is she is doing with herself now. The attempt to deactivate the tractor beams also took down the cloaking device, which garners the attention of the nearby Republic forces and the bounty hunters eager to clock Goto out permanently. The trio makes haste for a quick exit, but the Twin Suns intercept them along the way with the Zhugs not far behind them.

"Nobody stays dead around here anymore!" shouts Atton

"You would expect anything less from us?" retort the Twin Suns.

Atton twirls into action blocking blows from both then sharply jabs both simultaneously then Mira double shots both as well. They cannot dodge completely from any attack on two fronts. The Suns are out of the picture as they fight their way through the Zhugs now blocking the way. After all that then comes the Gand who are eager for payback on Vina in particular for what happen in Jekk'Jekk Tarr, but again not much a match for a well armed shooter and finely honed swordsmanship.

***

Once back aboard the freighter, Atton quickly floors away as the ship to ship barrage overwhelms the hull of the yacht incinerating it. The word of Goto's untimely 'demise' is sure to rattle the criminal underworld for years to come given the iron grip he had on certain elements of it and the moon as a whole. As they again descend to the landing pad, one of Goto's droids floats out of the darkness of the cargo bay. Mira, Bao-Dur, Visas, and Atton simultaneously aim at the machine before Vina raises her hand to wave them off for the moment.

"_At least you have not taken the quick path to defeating me, but the loss of the yacht is not a terrible loss for me. My resources while not unlimited are still considerable, and as an agent of my agenda, this unit is now yours though it is merely a formality to ensure that things go as I prefer them to go wherever you are heading next."_

"I'll tolerate this unit's presence so long as it does not interfere with my mission to find the Jedi Council survivors. I also had come to the conclusion that your extensive use of droids implies you rarely trust organics, and by organics, I mean you are a droid albeit a very intelligent one."

"A first to be certain that only you perhaps could have seen through it, but the clues that are obvious yet too simple to everyone are the ones they ignore at their convenience. I made it seem random enough that nobody would suspect my rackets or more so my actual identity. My name is G0-T0, not Goto, but the latter made a more convincing moniker especially to the Exchange who did not exactly care who is sector boss so long as they get the job done as they put it."

"They are going to have to find someone else, unless you are active in more than just the unit floating in front of me."

"_The core essence of my programming exists elsewhere, and as for the yacht it merely fulfilled a purpose within a purpose. However you are not the only the Force user in this room I would gather, but they are not the cause for your visit here. The older male hidden by Mira is your cause."_

"I'm late for my meeting with him, so the rest of you stand down, we will deal with this later."

***

"I have been expecting you especially after the destruction of Goto's yacht."

"The reason why no one senses him especially not us Force users is the background noise floods everything until you block everything out except droids. He is a droid, but more to point his operations are not so smooth anymore."

"You did things both to the benefit and the hindrance of the Exchange more so to the hinder side of things. The refugees no longer have gangs on their backs for slaves for the moment. Those seeking to leave this place now can because nothing is stopping the freighters for the moment. You have done mixed things as usual Exile."

"Master, I need to know why you and the others exiled me."

"It felt like the only thing to do as a civil war had come for us, for the Jedi."

"You are evading the real answer."

"After Malachor V, we found that the Jedi were not all falling to their deaths, rather a mass conversion had its origins in the Wars, but only gotten worse since. You were alone in the call for a return, but I began to think not long after that we were too quick to punish you for our own failings."

"Both sides made mistakes, I realize that much now, but I went before you to explain myself, to atone, to do something yet all of you especially Atris only saw that final decision as evil."

"A device of that power had a hand in ending countless lives in a heartbeat except a very few including you, but for a Jedi to survive that much death in the Force seems impossible. It was something we could never entirely decipher even after seeing you."

"You mean the Council had nothing to do with cutting me off from the Force?"

"No something or someone else did that for you. Kavar and Vash thought as much while Atris thought it a fitting blow to you, but then she always took your leaving for the Wars the hardest as you had been one of her best students. Kavar understood best of all Council members why you went to war, but then he had been your weapons master a lifetime ago too."

"I know where the others are too, and I will need to find them before long as well."

"How could you learn of our locations that easily?"

"Not through the Force, these places have too much energy, too much desperation, too much all around, but knowing a location helps to start the search. Atris' archives have been helpful in a few ways, but then she did not look happy to see me again nor had I made a point of going for an encounter. This mission to find the Council was her idea and she is on Telos."

"You do not lie, but most of us thought her dead since Katarr."

"She is very much alive; she intends to rebuild the Order on Telos."

"I see, so do you have a rendezvous point in mind for when you find the others."

"I think Dantooine at the Enclave would be suitable."

"Good luck Exile… you are going to need it, but first I need to teach you something."

***

After Master Ell and Vina depart towards their next destinations as each leaves the Smugglers' Moon behind them. Mira drops down to find Vina's lightsaber again drawn at her. The bounty hunter offers her service to the Jedi, and so Vina accepts another into her already growing company. It is also again to the irritation of Kreia, but the older woman rationalizes it as another pawn to the game. The redhead would provide a curious add, but this one had knowledge of the other bounty hunters after the Exile, at least from this decadent moon.

"I told her everything Kreia so your deal is off; she is far more forgiving than you know."

"You think you were truly under my control, not really, I merely made use of your self-loathing, all the feelings you had over all the deaths you were responsible for, but you'll never match hers. She'll never entirely forgive herself for Malachor, but she might think what you did is forgivable; I never will share that sentiment."

"You really are bitter for more than what I did in my past; I think it has something to do with that guy that nearly got you back on Peragus."

Atton is thrown into the bulkhead outside Kreia's room and the doors close behind it. He shakes off the head pain before heading for the medbay to treat his new head injury. Vina rejoins him in the cockpit with Mira and the two of them share a mutual stare of dislike. A decision is made that their next destination should be Onderon since it is where Master Kavar is said to be hiding according to the files taken from Atris' mainframe. The _Ebon Hawk_ again takes off still emitting their new transponder code, which hopefully should prevent identification except nobody knows how many of this freighter class are still in service if any.

***

"Strange I did not think I was only one still awake, but after what we have been through already it seems hardly surprising," murmurs Vina.

"I always felt you were more than capable General, but even I have had doubts at times. I know you feel endlessly responsible for those deaths, but to be the inventor of such a weapon lies with me for building it. Revan's delay out of system had made for possibility of its use."

"I always thought it would never come to that, but it did, the only problem or the killer in it is that made a truly indiscriminate weapon. It got everyone outside the operations area, on the surface, in the air, and especially in orbit within all those hulls. Anyone lucky to be out of the edge of the shock wave made it out alive."

"I wonder what brings us to talking about this now."

"It happened to both of us, and we are going near to a place I did not want to see again among other places. The Onderon System, more precisely Dxun is where the Wars really took over for me, it had not been my first fight, but it put me towards the path that made me want to get away from everyone."

"It seems the past will always be with us, like our own shadow."

"You have certainly grown a little poetic over the years."

"It helps pass the time especially when you are trying to atone for your moral crimes that no puts on your head other than yourself."

"You need not carry this burden forever, you must forgive yourself as must I forgive myself, and we made decisions we have had to live with for over a decade now. We will never forget, but we must forgive if we are to do some good in the name of those that are dead and those that still may live if we have anything to do with it."

The jump to Onderon as with any hyperspace jump leaves them plenty of time to talk or rest.

***

**Onderon**,** High Orbit**

The _Ebon Hawk_ or rather the _Silver Zephyr_ emerges from hyperspace to witness an array of ships having a showdown in orbit above Onderon. Atton summons everyone to the cockpit. Mira heads back towards the gun turrets after seeing the fighters launching on a course to intercept them. A voice begins speaking over the speakers and it seems that even different codes cannot hide them from these new enemies of a kind. Vina joins Mira in the other gunner seat as they fire to defend against attacking fighters.

"We need to find a place to land otherwise we are going to be shot down!"

"I'm doing the best I can here!"

The freighter takes a few direct hits, but not too much damage as they finally descend towards Dxun. The storm winds rough up the ship as everyone else struggles to strap in if they can while Vina and Mira remain in the gunner seats in case the fighters try to follow them down. However no one comes, but several other ships can be seen falling through the atmosphere towards the surface. The freighter eases its way to the ground in an open clearing. The rain is considerable, but enough to erode any chance of passage for now.

"For once I would like to go somewhere without being shot at, locked up, or any combination of things that could kill me," remarks Atton.

"It seems inevitable as many factions have their sights either out for this ship or for its passengers," responds Kreia.

"She is right, but even so, we do have enemies here, not on this ship, everywhere else for certain," continues Vina.

"How long will the repairs take?" asks Mira.

"Hard to tell, I'll need to inspect the outside and check the interiors thoroughly. It'll be a learning experience so come along Mr. Rand; we have our work to do as do the others. You heard me, move already!" chuckles Bao-Dur.

"Easy man, I am coming already."

Mira grabs a spare cloak as she and Visas join up Vina who is heading out to scout the area. All three sense watchers for different reasons. Mira as a bounty hunter always detects other trackers or suspects them despite their attempts at stealth. Visas Marr mentally feels their fear, their anxiety, and anything else that emanates emotions that give them away. Vina given her past experiences on Dxun wonders and considers a Mandalorian return to this battlefield.

"We are not unseen, either to the predators or to the trackers."

"It is not surprising, but we must press on, there is no way we can get the ship to the planet, so we need another route to Onderon."

"The only places to find any ships would be camps that might still be around from the Wars, but I would hardly count on that… those banners ahead look new."

"I see them too… they are Mandalorian."

* * *

A/N 1: Atton's flashback expands mostly on the incident involving the unnamed female Jedi that was captured by him while he was a Sith Assassin, he's crafted more into a quasi-leader role in this take, and of course the interrogation with her triggers in him what she's afraid the Sith will find in him eventually. He agrees to help her die in order to spare her the conversion or the death that might happen during the conversion.

A/N 2: I had Mira following Vina from above on the pipes, relates back to Mira's tales about NS in-game. Visas recovers and begins to learn from both the Exile and from the enigmatic Kreia. Hanharr as seen is not quite as dead as he appears after losing to Mira if you play the LS path.

A/N 3: The intrigues of the criminal underworld lead to Goto's Yacht and of course the seemingly unrelated incidents in side quests all contribute to the eventual realization of Goto's true identity, that was one of the more unexpected plot developments for me.

A/N 4: I made the turret again similar to the one on the Millenium Falcon even though the design of this freighter shares little in common with the YT-1300 that won't be built or in production for millenia. The alteration is merely made so the Vina and Mira can operate the guns together.


	5. Four: Shadow Chasers

Kumus curses himself for getting stuck up here after finally setting the last of permacrete detonators at the sites chosen by Mandalore. Likewise to be out of ammo did him no good either. He spots three cloaked figures not far below, but possibly out of shouting range. The young Mandalorian tosses a pebble in their direction, but it fails to attract attention except to rouse the nearby predators though he is safe from them for the moment. He could only hope someone would note his lateness and come looking for some sign of him though he hopes it would be those strangers, not one of his comrades.

The embarrassment of this is one thing, but to be a Mandalorian and have this happen is doubly so especially if other Mandalorians become aware of it. The constant rain and thunder also made being out in the open dangerous to one's health as a damp uniform is just as quick a killer as any of those creatures below. He folds himself up trying to contain his body heat against the wetness of the rock face. Survival is paramount until he should try to leave on his own, die here, or deal with the embarrassment of being found up here alive.

***

The three women near the banner only to be meet by a group of stealthy Mandalorians that Vina had thought might have been their watchers on the way up here or at least had some connection to them. She agrees to follow them into their camp, which looks like left over ruins from the Wars. Vina also however detects some unease from Mira as she seems to recognize some fixtures of this place or a place not unlike it. The numbers here are considerable, but it seems their leader would likely have something to do with that.

"My men told me of a cloaked trio moving in the jungle, and usually cloaks make me think of only two things. You can probably guess regardless of which of those two you are _aruetii_."

"Outsiders we are, but that is no need to make conjectures about our allegiances," responds Mira

"You speak Mandalorian?" asks Kelborn.

"I have had some experience with them."

"I would say it is more than that if you can speak the language," comments Bralor.

"I don't recall the clan name, but then I was a little girl when the war came to our world. I was either one of theirs or an adoption from a conquest. They were dead and gone before anyone told me anything, but war time does have a high body count as all company here know if they were alive at the time."

"Back to the matter at hand, your ship in the jungle, you obviously did not intend to land here, and before the sensors were offline again we had read some signs of weapons fire in the upper atmosphere," continues Kelborn.

"We were attacked the instant we came out of the jump, well almost, some Onderonian military blockade. A squad of fighters hit us the second they shut off the comm."

"It certainly fits the discharge readings we got, but at the moment most of our technology is down aside from what we have for close combat and for melee."

The discussion ends after a time once it becomes clear that Mandalore will only provide passage to Iziz if Vina can prove herself to him, but even then, it is not the only obstacle to reaching Master Kavar. Zuka, a technician, is stuck trying to repair the computers and the power relays, which are both malfunctioning. Vina starts fiddling around with the telemetry computer with Mira's help whereas Visas Marr tries to learn more about the fate of the power converters, which were lost to the jungle when their carrier had run afoul of a pack of cannoks. The trio reunites after the computers and the relays are back up, but a full power up is too risky without the converters.

Mira goes after the cannoks on her own leaving Vina and Visas Marr to hang around the camp for a time. The Miraluka having seen little and less of planets in general since her captivity is certainly reveling in the experience yet senses her Jedi companion's unease with this place in particular. The two meditate amidst the din of training Mandalorians. One particular pack is engaging in single combat, a ritual dating back to before the Wars, and once more in use to proof one's honor and skill against fellow Mandalorian.

"You wish to fight _Jetti_?" asks Davrel.

"If you wish a fight, I am open," remarks Vina.

Vina meets each of the young Mandalorian's attacks with her own counterattacks, which eventually break his defense for her to triumph over him. In public, he takes the loss with dignity, but this is not over in his mind. Something of a rush in her, Vina asks if others would like to test her and she test them. A notable pulse jump in the circle gathering is apparent as a runner is sent for the quartermaster. Kex arrives without delay after hearing a Jedi is among their numbers, but he underestimates in some capacity, the ability of Vina's swordsmanship.

He too accepts the loss with dignity knowing that losing to one Jedi is not necessarily the end for him as there will be other battles for him down the road at he hopes so as he returns to handling his armories. Bralor arrives to witness the Jedi's match with Tagren later that night. At this stage she has drawn nearly all their numbers away from training or whatever else they are doing to watch this match. The only ones not present are told to keep watch at the entry points unaware someone is already looking for ways to breach their perimeter.

Tagren's eventual defeat causes something of an uproar, but so far the lady has proven herself in the eyes of the Mandalorian sergeant. He informs her that the remaining two competitors for this circle will require a different kind of proof in order to allow a match with her. Bralor chuckles knowing she will find a way to battle with him if she really wants it. Mira returns with the converter parts in a backpack then hands them off to Zuka who hands off a sack of parts, spikes, and the like.

Mira goes over to see Vina replacing her cloak then heading over to join her. The two meet up with Visas Marr who comments to them that someone is watching this camp, and it is more than one group according to the pulses she is feeling through the Force. They head out into the jungle after getting a mission from Mandalore to seek out the wartime caches that were kept by the former inhabitants of the ruins.

***

The Mandalorian mechanic Zuka thanks them for returning the parts of the power converters to him. Vina shrugs off a reward before rejoining her friends at the outskirts of the ruins. Davrel intercepts them, the other women prepare to engage, but Vina hand signals them to hold off for the moment. A truce is struck so they would all engage the zakkeg together soon enough. Mira displays a faint sign of amusement and curiosity at Vina's latest call whereas Visas Marr cannot help beyond wondering why her new Master of a sort is going beyond 'necessary' lengths.

The Wars had taken their toll long enough yet somehow neither side would ever truly recover from it. As they scurry to follow Davrel, he somehow manages to lose them and Mira alone tries to keep as she dashes ahead along his last known direction of travel. Visas Marr however detects something or someone else stuck not far from them. They hurry off in that direction only to encounter someone similar looking armor wise to Davrel.

"So I am found by a pair of _Jetti_," comments Kumus.

"It would appear so, and I am guessing you are not Davrel."

"What is he up to now?"

"We had a pact to fight a zakkeg together."

"I take it something must have happened to lead to that, but right now my only concern is evading a slow death up here. The locals got wind of me before I could finish my rounds with the permacrete detonators."

"I will take care of them so we can resolve this situation as smoothly as possible."

Kumus finds he is unable to not awe at their sweeping moves to deal with the bomas nearby. Afterward he quickly thanks them then asks that none should know of this and so Vina agrees to keep his secret as one misstep ought not to be the last. At the same time, she still feels incomplete even with all the Force at her command. They press on reuniting with Visas Marr and Davrel not far from the zakkeg's lair. The four head straight in and find the creature not a difficult opponent yet Davrel begins to suspect that Jedi never actually had a need of him yet understood why she would do this for him. As the beast finally falls to their attacks, he takes his leave of them and they head back for the camp after checking out the remaining caches at Mandalore's directives.

Mira and Visas Marr detect someone watching them so they take opposite routes around him as Vina keeps heading down the more direct pathway only to find another Mandalorian who is standing over the corpses of non-Mandalorians. He looks up to her then to his left and right spotting the other women who thought it possible to get around him. Mira smacks her forehead slightly realizing she had learnt many of her tricks from Mandalorians so it would not necessarily work on him and Visas shows some surprise that this one could detect them yet it made sense soon enough.

***

"I take you recognize why I have some interest in these pitiful excuse for a black ops squad at my feet."

"They are obviously part of some operation here on this moon be headed up by the Onderonian military, possibly part of the same group that hit us in orbit, and maybe even has ties to whatever is happening on Onderon itself."

"Quite possibly so, now shall we hunt, I know there are other groups out there of these untagged soldiers."

Mira heads off first then Visas and Vina trails after them as Kelborn resumes his tracking pattern as well. He had indirectly heard that the Jedi had bested even Kex, which is quite a feat, but to beat Tagren is something more. It would take more than beating the recent regulars to convince him to fight her in the circle. She did however look tough enough at least at first glance.

"I take it you have a bead on the Onderonian Spec Ops unit?" asks Vina

"I have them in my sights, both teams, I told Marr to go after the other one, and you can join either of us as I am going in after the first batch now," replies Mira.

Visas however keeps her distance until the others catch up to her as she had not thought of battling enemies alone as if working as a team had finally gotten to her. She turns and vanishes back towards the other women. The OSOs made haste to setup some sort of a camp, but it is far more foolish to do it anywhere in the deep jungle as the predators are frequent in their passage especially in this area. She catches up with them as they engage the team that Mira had been following before. They are unsurprisingly in no mood to talk so they get cut down then they head after Visas' targets.

"Colonel Tobin wants her found; she presents too much risk to the revolution…"

Each woman approaches from a different direction while noting that the local cat species had taken interest in the OSOs. The attack goes off without a hitch as they like the others are not talking aside from that brief snippet overheard a moment ago. The snap hiss of lightsabers meshes with the firing of blasters. It is over before so much as an exhale passes as the only sound in the air aside from the rain, the thunder, and of course the lightning. Always the rain, always the rain echoes Vina's thoughts back to her last time on Dxun, which had been at the height of Jedi's entrance into the Wars.

The trio heads back towards the sentries, but face an interception by Kelborn. He reports that the other units were likewise silent. Vina reports a mention of Tobin, which Kelborn identifies as General Vaklu's favorite runner, essentially his leading pawn in the military. Vaklu is also Queen Talia's cousin and rival in Onderonian politics as the two regularly clash over leadership styles and on the future of their world's involvement with the Republic. It is clear they have made potential enemies before even setting foot on Onderon, but somehow conflict follows Vina wherever she goes, the destination is always with her.

Kelborn agrees to face her in the battle circle, and so they return to the ruins where the duel begins anew. The blades spark under the darkening skies of Dxun as Vina learns then alters the styles used by her Mandalorian opponents. Her ability then manipulate others' techniques had been a method that Vrook had never held in high regard and thought her likely to fall should she continue in her quick ways. Kelborn is like the others before him not a match for her and so Bralor contends to fight her next. He fights her straight without restrictions as he calls it, but like Kelborn he fails to recognize her ability to manipulate his method against him.

She realizes not that she does this periodically in fights, but she begins to suspect that her being cut off from the Force may not have been the Council's doing at all. She however dares not to share this with Kreia even though the fatal bond leaves little in the way of secrets between them, but both mentor and student have their secrets and burdens to carry within. She heads off again towards Mandalore's command bunker, and again senses someone watching her, which the others agree is likely. Their watchers are also not Mandalorian, which cuts the list down a bit as not even OSOs could get this close or anyone for that matter without equipping advance stealth technology.

***

Elsewhere Kreia senses the Exile's suspicions about their latest round of intruders and sets out to investigate after employing her usual disappearing act, which Atton had gotten used as she had proven too frustrating to deal with in general. He had also found it better to stay out of her way so long as she did no harm to Vina, but his feelings had been part of the reason he kept his word to the Exile. His past as leverage had been Kreia's bargaining chip, or so it had seemed that way until he told Vina everything back on Nar Shaddaa. The repairs had already been done not long after the landing, but Bao-Dur kept at trying to improve the overall functionality of everything given how crudely the ship had gotten through a simple blockade in his mind.

***

He thinks himself hidden from her, but as he like all the others underestimates her and pays the price for his arrogance in her mind. The blade is through his back and out the front of his chest as he flops over. She descends into the ruins taking note of all the other stealth assassins moving into position. The others had not given up the chase yet or they had a far more hidden plan at work here and were drawn out to attack to the Exile as she threatens the success of their plan. She as before could not allow anyone to harm her new apprentice. Vina, the Huntress, the Seer, and this new Mandalore are heading towards the hangar where a shuttle is kept for interplanetary travel.

It resembles the G-Wing she had been told about by Revan after his return to Malachor. He had told her a great deal about technology he used during his campaign to fortify the Republic against this threat he had become aware of during the Wars. It had some part in what the Council had been afraid of at time and still fears even when they try to really hide from it. One assassin nears the Mandalorian mechanic Zuka, but a momentary power spike kills the fool.

"We have stealth operators in our perimeter, Mandalorians attack!"

The female trio springs into action and mows down the Assassins as they go further amazing the Mandalorians to some extent. A combination of melee and range attacks whittles down the Assassins numbers quickly enough. After the battle, Mandalore gathers his leading officers along with the female trio. A plan is laid out for their trip to Iziz while Kelborn and Bralor direct their forces here in securing the perimeter as they direct the _Hawk_ to move closer to the ruins. Mandalore concludes the meeting by directing Zuka to prepare the shuttle for launch and then he retires to his chambers for the duration of the launch preparations.

He locks himself in his chambers, unhooks the air tubes from the helmet, and then removes the helmet, it felt better and necessary to air out. The famous and infamous man beneath this helmet and armor is unknown except to a select few that follow him and as for the rest if anyone had known his name from before they would question it as many thought this man dead for years now.

**Several Years Earlier**

_Canderous Ordo arrives at Coruscant at the behest of his Jedi comrade Revan to hear his latest plans. As more fragments of memories have come back to him, which on the one hand disturbs Revan's lover and wife yet arouses Ordo's curiosity. He enters the capital in his best civilian disguise, but carries a few concealed weapons that get pass security as he had clearances due to his service with Revan during the final year of the Jedi Civil War. The transportation network proves difficult to navigate even with Revan's directions, but he eventually finds his way and notices his old friend is there waiting for him._

_The two walk for hours through the levels of the Galactic City until the Jedi finally gets to his point. Canderous listens intently remembering stories of Sith encounters that led to the Mandalorian Wars. Borden/Revan divulges the location of Mandalore's helmet and armor, a place kept secret for years, but the memory of its location is not lost. He provides Canderous with coordinates, with a system name, and an approximate description of how to gain access to it._

_"Why are you telling me?" asks Canderous_

_"It is not me, but rather the message that matters," responds Revan._

_"Fewer enigmas, more direct please," remarks Canderous._

_"It is something you will need to know because other memories tell me of something else far more sinister at work in our future."_

_"You mean the Sith will be back, they like you Jedi always come back somehow."_

_"It is why we need to be ready, why I believe all sides must come together when they strike again."_

_"As you ask so shall it be."_

_"A good thing to hear, but now you and I must part ways for I need to prepare for a journey of my own."_

_"What about Princess?"_

_"She like you cannot follow me where I go when I start my true mission."_

_"You would leave all your earned elements behind to stop what might never happen?"_

_"I could find reasons not to go starting with Bastila among other things."_

_"I would believe you could, but you will not, what about Onasi?"_

_"He has his hands full between going up in ranks in the military and his son quite possibly heading towards Jedi training after a brush with the Sith during the Civil War."_

_"As much as he might have been a pain and an aggravation, I do respect the man, just not his false modesty, if there is such a thing."_

_"He tries, but he does not see the galaxy as we have seen it."_

_"Any other requests of me?" asks Canderous._

_"After you have the helmet and the armor, you will have to reunite as many Mandalorians as you can as alliances and numbers will be vital to the future of all the things that matter most especially to me."_

_"I will do as you ask, but when the time comes how are you going to break your leaving to the Princess?"_

_"I will have to deal with that in my own way, if there is even a way to leave love behind."_

_It begins to enter the simulation of night on Coruscant as orbital platforms regulate light flow into the skies above them. Canderous seeks out the cheapest flight out only to be met by Carth Onasi who has come for a brief visit to Coruscant to see his old friends Borden and Bastila. His second wife Moira is not far behind as he tries to catch up to Canderous, but the Mandalorian is gone before he reaches where he just saw him. He shrugs it off with someone familiar though probably just someone that looks like explanation. She takes while it pulling his arm as they are heading over to visit Borden and Bastila. The flashback switches over to Canderous' arrival at the vault where the armor and helmet are hidden._

_It fits almost like a glove, but then maybe that is the point. He exits the vault then boards his personal ship to search for recruits to begin building his new army with trainers, technicians, soldiers, and more. They assemble on Dxun, but none of them ever got to see his face except for a handful such as Kelborn, Bralor, and Kex as they had become his trusted lieutenants of a sort._

***

**Mandalore's Bunker, Dxun** (now)

The flashback ends as he stares at the helmet in the dimly lit sleeping quarters. He tugs it back on and heads for the hangar where Zuka is still working on the shuttle. Everything seems to check out so he directs Zuka to get back to getting everything at top notch or better around the camp.

"I trust you will keep her safe, be the armored warrior at her side as you were at his."

"What are you talking about you old witch?"

"You ever wonder why he told you to prepare an army, to gather your people, to become the new Mandalore, and then left you to it as he went off into the Unknown Regions leaving everyone else behind including you."

"Who the _fierfek_ do you think you are crone!" shouts Mandalore.

"She is in your care, she fought with Revan as well during the Wars, she fought here on this moon among other places, she like you made it through Malachor V, and like you she had found it hard to live beyond what she had done before."

Kreia leaves him in silence and he murmurs into his wrist comlink that internal security priority is the old woman, not the Jedi given what she seems to know about what is really going on at this point. He boards the shuttle with Vina and Mira for passengers. He initiates take off and flies straight towards Iziz while bypassing the blockade as the shuttle is small enough for that possibility. There is also something strangely familiar about this Mira, but as someone taught by a Mandalorian, it had not been uncommon to experience a kinship. The flight would last at least another half hour as the clearances had gone through another recycle thanks to the travel restrictions especially to the capital.

***

"Our spies... have told me that the _Ebon Hawk_ is still on the jungle moon, but its passengers are on their way to Iziz particularly someone of note, someone who could be valuable to us as an ally against Talia," comments Tobin.

"At first I thought she would be too set in her ways, but the fact is she met the Mandalorians first and not us. What's more is that the Assassins did not report in after following her to their camp," retorts Vaklu.

"We will keep tabs on her, and just maybe she can lure out Kavar. He is too insulated in the Palace, which makes it impossible to get to him. We have so few resources within the walls these days thanks to Kavar and the Royalists," continues Tobin.

"The Sith will not be enough to guarantee victory over Talia so either she joins or dies, make sure if Kavar goes to see her, that he dies regardless of her decision," remarks Vaklu.

"As you command General," replies Tobin.

Tobin suits up and assembles a strike unit to scour the city as a Mandalorian owned shuttle is docking at the spaceport right now. It felt like a doable interception, but the fact that she gotten away from him in orbit had been only bad luck despite concerns that she had proven more than just lucky.

***

Vina and Mira raise their hoods as she takes her starport visa from the customs officer. Mira whispers something about local security keeping tabs already, which Mandalore likewise suggests is likely by now if not soon enough.

The double time of their comments earns a mutual admiration glare between the former bounty hunter and former mercenary. A simple mental suggestion gets them through the security check point and soon enough they learn that Mandalore's inside man is under arrest pending trial for the murder of a female military captain. Vina employs a combination of forensics and questioning lead to a recording taken by a recently scrapped service droid from the city's cantina. However gaining Ghent's release, he withholds service for a favor of returning 'stolen' discs from Bakkel, a gangster that frequents the cantina.

It proves to be a less than amicable encounter, but she recovers the designated items. He promises to reach his contact in the Palace in order to reach Kavar so they decide to wait for Ghent's return with an update on Kavar's decision to meet with her. Ghent returns with news that Kavar is on his way yet he also says it would be best to part ways permanently. Vina finds no cause to disagree so they leave Ghent's office behind as they head into the cantina.

She senses Kavar's approach and turns to meet a poorly disguised male Jedi at their side.

"It is curious to see you again after all these years, but then I was not alone in my musings that you had much to teach us about what had happen by the disagreement that fractured the Order," remarks Kavar.

"I would say that both of us had been at fault at one time or another. However the reluctance and condemnation on the part of the Council had not been unwarranted yet still you could have heard me out. I have to live with what I did then and so do you until we die maybe beyond that too," replies Vina.

"What happen to you out there had been both a cipher and a threat in the eyes of some on the Council including Vrook and Atris. Vash and I felt similar about what you could teach us, but ultimately it had been a reluctant unity to exile you."

"What about the Force?"

"It could barely be felt in you at your return to us, some thought of it as an ethereal judgment against, and some thought something or someone else had a part in it, yet the exact nature or cause of the 'wound' is unknown."

"What?"

"We have such imprecise wording to define these things, but there is still much…"

A mix of troopers and undercover operatives surround them. Kavar mentally stuns enough of them allowing him to escape capture. Tobin takes off after him. The trio battle their way through Tobin's men onto the streets only to encounter more of Vaklu's supporters in the military attacking them. The drawn out skirmish finally ends at the edge of the western quarter, which covers the area outside the cantina. The merchant promenade is the last sector between them and the spaceport. Royalists question Vina about what happen, but she feigns ignorance about their standoff with Vaklu's men.

However the automated defense grid begins to attack them in tandem with civilian undercover operatives. This second run around proves as one sided as the last especially from Kavar's vantage point high above them. He heads back for the Palace to plan for the eventual confrontation with Vaklu and his off-world allies. He also had a certainty that his old student would have a part to play in this even though she had not been his Padawan. He also had little doubt that this would be a defining moment in Talia's reign as Queen of Onderon. Kavar vanishes again sensing Tobin is almost caught up thanks to this brief distraction of an attack.

Tobin curses himself for losing Kavar yet suspects this is not the last opportunity he will have to rid himself of Kavar or this Exile. He reports to Vaklu about the two Jedi, which does not entirely upset him since the coup is still on schedule. Vaklu departs to meet with his political loyalists to press for further measures that will build the legitimacy for his takeover of the Onderonian government from his cousin, the Queen. His off-world allies would also hopefully provide further personnel support during the coup and against any supporters to Talia especially off-world ones like this Exile. Tobin deals with the fallout of his strike squad's failure and the handling of their dead bodies.

***

Mandalore lands the shuttle back at the outpost on Dxun then rejoins Vina and the others back at the _Ebon Hawk_. He fondly recalls the months he spent on the freighter years ago during the Jedi Civil War. It is also little surprise that Revan's legacy endures through the ship especially with its new captain and the droids are familiar too especially the astromech. The very same he had Revan 'borrow' from Kang before he and Revan's comrades took Kang's freighter for themselves. His minor hope is that the droid would not recognize him. The ship takes off and the pilot aims them towards Dantooine, their next destination. A world that been a new beginning for Mandalore at Revan's side yet now an open wound for many since the fallout of the Civil War.

Ordo realizes that this Exile, a former wartime general, is now in search of Jedi, particularly Masters who hold some unknown significance to whatever she is attempting to do with herself and for the Galaxy. However there is also something that feels not quite right especially when he is in the presence of this Exile's 'mentor', something familiar, at least by reputation or maybe past encounter. The ship touches down, and more than likely the ship's visual profile will not unnoticed since the _Hawk_ had been a frequent stopover on this world during the Civil War. Vina dresses down for a change given what the Jedi reputation is these days in some star systems.

She also conceals her lightsabers in sleeve slings as she wishes not to go without them despite the unlikelihood of running into other Force users aside from Master Vrook, but this had been another reunion she had not totally been looking forward to. Bao-Dur and Mira follow her off the ship while Atton and T3 continue a lengthy list repairs left behind for them by their mechanically minded friend. The trio is given directions to the Khoonda Administration Complex so from there they encounter Administrator Adare and her militia commander Zherron. Berun, Zherron's second, also expresses suspicion at his superior's negotiations with certain mercenary elements, which is only the tipping point in this world's future.

They enter the Administrator's office only to find the doors closing behind them and she taps a series of buttons to ensure audio privacy. Adare rarely makes use of this function except when it seems undeniably necessary. She turns to face the rather well disguised visitors before her. Vina moves to speak, but Adare cuts her off.

"I would understand the necessity of silence, of denial on your part considering that ship sitting only a walk from this complex, it has been here before albeit under a different crew, a different captain, but you arrive at a delicate juncture…"

"If I can help you I will, I had come here to search the ruins and to find someone…"

"Let us say, I am looking for this someone too, his disappearance worries me especially given the stepping up of aggression on the part of our mercenary population…"

"I remember hearing that mercenaries were gathering here when I was last at Citadel Station, particularly someone known as Azkul as their commander…"

"He is leading them, but Master Vrook's investigation had led me to believe his armaments were of off-world origins as such our local technology hardly stands a change of withstanding a military grade assault…"

"We could help you there to some extent plus I am not the only one good with weapons in my group especially a certain kind of weapon that would serve to even the scales."

"However I advise caution against publicly displaying those weapons especially the kind those with your training tend to use."

"I understand, I must inform the others of what is going…"

"Do as you must, but be careful…"

***

Bao-Dur returns to the _Ebon Hawk _for a time as Mira and Vina scout out pathways to the ruined Enclave. Kreia takes this time to secretly slip away to briefly spy on this Azkul's encampment and noting that he is not keeping that agitating Vrook here though here is where that stodgy Jedi Master could do the most damage. She makes her way towards the Enclave where salvage teams or scavengers are still 'taking' what they can from that once secluded and sacred place. She can feel the ghosts that still vaguely haunt these grounds, but many had found peace in death when so few had clung on though they too went to their deaths.

Kreia falls back after ascertaining that Vrook is not here either, but he is near enough then she recalls the crystal caves that were among the plains and the savannas that still persist in some form despite Malak's bombardment of the surface. As if entirely too predictable he is there, alert, awake, yet making no effort to escape, only listening to their scheming and plotting against the locals. She never did like him yet somehow old age taught him something, but his failures could still outstrip his momentary wisdom. Kreia slinks away again passing everyone even Vrook without detection yet she had long since made a perfection of her stealth or ability to hide her presence through the Force.

***

Vina made some alliances both with Zherron and with Dopak, Zherron's insider with the mercenaries. She leads Bao-Dur and Visas into the Enclave while Atton and Mira contend with the repairs for the defense of the Administration Complex. T3 thrums about working on the droids. Kreia maintains her watch on the mercenary encampment and finally learns their off-world suppliers are an extension of that droid crime lord's organization on Nar Shaddaa. This Azkul is also a by-product of Malak's short lived reign, particularly the ruined Korriban Academy.

Vina, Visas, and Bao-Dur brawl their way through the creatures that have taken residence in the sub level. They finally reach a sealed doorway that leads into an abandoned library. A human male emerges from the archives yet is unable to reach for his weapon as Visas is already upon him and Bao-Dur is going for his lightsaber as well. Vina orders them to stand down for the moment. The pair retracts from their dual attack and man thanks her with a bow. She faintly blushes before straightening her form.

"Who are you?" asks Vina

"I am a historian, an investigator for the Republic…" says the man.

"Not your profession, your name."

"I am Mical, an intelligence operative…"

"I thought as much, but why are you here?"

"Trying to find out what happen to the Jedi Order…"

"It is very nearly dead with a handful of exceptions that are in hiding or running from their pursuers. The wars that we fought in have had deadly consequences so that makes me responsible as well being a Jedi and all."

"Not everyone blames the Jedi for the fallout after years of warfare."

"It is good to hear that in some way, but I am here searching for something and someone as well."

"Why is that?"

"I am an exile, cast out from the Order, for whatever crimes I have made especially by involvement with the super weapon used at Malachor V. We all have pasts that we are not terribly proud including me."

"I would ask to join you in whatever you are attempting… your exile from the Order presents a way to find out what happen to the Purge survivors."

"I sense no deception from him, but his allegiances are still questionable."

"He knows more than he is saying, but when has that not been the case."

The four head back towards the ramp that brought them to the sub level. However Gerevick is there waiting for them courtesy of Azkul's orders. Prior to their departure from the archives, they found orders on the dead mercenaries about Vrook's capture and plans to takeover Khoonda. It also means that they are running out of time if they are going to stop the mercenaries' assault. Gerevick only serves to delay them as Vina deals him out with ease while the others handle his thugs.

***

The group clears the ruins then heads in the direction of the crystal caves, which is where kinraths have been nesting for generations, likely drawn to the crystals. Vina directs their newest recruit, Mical, to the Administrative Complex. He meets up with Mira and Atton, prompting the pair's first agreement since her joining the _Hawk_'s crew. They were ready to take him out quietly until he mentions Vina going after some Jedi Master that was on her list. At that moment, Kreia also appears to be watching this encounter and at first disliking another mind to have to keep from gaining any hold on Vina's path.

His eidetic memory would have however would prove useful in a different kind of way than most. She turns her attention back towards Vina's search for Vrook and the potential defectors in Azkul's ranks. Vina had put that in motion almost instinctively, which felt very unlike her present self, yet the redemption bent guise had its purposes when having to convince others to aid her. Kreia realizes that Vina will never quite have the atonement she seeks, but she will keep chasing it just as the Malachor nightmares keep haunting her.

***

Vrook is already freed by the time she nears the caves, but his agitation at Vina's intervention is visible as he stealth runs his way to the Complex. Vina, the Seer, and the Iridonian are left to fight the mercenary squad alone yet together they are formidable against even hardened mercenaries. Visas and Bao-Dur ignite their lightsabers yet Vina unleashes a powerful Force attack on them hurdling all of them to the ground. They seize the opportunity to kill as many they can yet just as they move to the last one he arms a grenade, which neither can deflect in time.

Vina races towards him then Force pushes him away just as the grenade detonates, but the blast is lessened by distance. Kreia marvels at Vina's powerful attacks, which at that moment begin to rival, Revan, but by no means his equal. She draws further strength from having allies like he did yet she is also manipulating them in a way she does not suspect, something Revan had never done unknowingly. The trio rejoins the others who have already been busy with the defense. The battle draws closer yet having Jedi allies they stood a better chance of defeating the mercenaries, it might go a way to redeeming the Jedi reputation at least on this world.

"I would suggest gathering our forces, a talk before the fight might boost their spirits."

"I think you are right Miss."

The _Hawk_ crew assembles alongside the military and militia recruits within the complex. The preparations had put them on better footing yet even so it would take more than what they did so far to triumph here. Vina directs her newly trained Jedi companions to take up solo posts throughout the defense cordon then meet up inside when the outer defenses can no longer hold the line. The military and militia deploy along all entry points and the minefields cover all the approaches. Zherron and his lieutenants are on standby outside Adare's office. Vina stands with them though at the moment directs her thoughts to the others projecting her strength through Battle Meditation to them.

Kreia observes the battle from on high believing Vina would turn the battle whatever way she sought to turn it. Vrook's delaying tactics had only held back some of the mercenaries the rest charge blindly into the minefields. Many die before the rest realize they were expected, which only slightly upsets Azkul. The remaining mercenary numbers storm the front entrance yet meet fierce defenders that eventually collapse then noting visible blurs they stop for a moment allowing some to retreat inward. Azkul orders the rest to press into the main building.

Atton takes on two of Azkul's remaining fighters whereas Mira daring enough fights up to four or five. Visas rushes from another direction and Bao-Dur knuckles down several others. Azkul notes most of his men are now down and he is nearly outnumbered yet then he flourishes his favorite double blade. He manages to fend off all the other Jedi in training. This somewhat upsets Visas and Mira who feel they are near rivals to Vina in terms of swordsmanship already while Atton keeps finding himself tripping through attacks. As for Bao-Dur he notices how easily Azkul is sidestepping attempts to get at him.

Vina joins the fight yet even she is having trouble with him as his moves alter too quickly for her to find a gap. Everyone attempts to engage him yet he is able to hold them all off. Vina mentally contacts Mandalore and Mical who are still on standby. Both hurry towards good sniping positions, but Azkul spots Mical easily since he knows what he looks like. Mandalore however is a better stealth killer than most men. All five continue to attack on the ground yet Azkul still fends them off. Mandalore fires striking the mercenary commander's preferred hand forcing him to switch hands.

Vina seizes the opening to slice the double blade at the middle grip, which startles Azkul and the others. She offers him one last opportunity to stand off, to walk away. He snarls and charges yet she makes no effort to beat him to the punch. He never made it into her lightsaber strike range as Mandalore shot him in the back of the head. The Second Battle of Dantooine ends with the death of Azkul and the survival of Khoonda. Vina had been worn out by extensive use of Battle Meditation so she is taken to the medical bay to rest now.

The military and militia survivors watch her friends help her towards the bay. They cannot help, but feel envy and inspiration towards her and her team. Kreia descends from her vantage point as Vrook enters Adare's office with great satisfaction that battle had gone well. However the turn of Dopak and his men had been an unexpected gain that surprises Adare yet Zherron explains he had Vina make contact with him earlier. They likewise express thanks to Vina yet she is already sleeping by the time they find her. She had not been sleeping well since Dxun, but then old battlefields had their ghosts too.

***

Kreia's arrival spooks nearly everyone except Atton had gotten used to her disappearing acts even though he had no idea how she did it or why so often. Something felt more wrong about her even to the others as they had grown more attune to reading people through the Force and in some ways she never registers much. She was however far more experienced than they as she had been the one retraining Vina since Peragus. Vrook awaits Vina in the office and she meets him on her own time. The Jedi Master allows her that much after saving his mission after nearly wrecking it in his opinion.

These ones she had been training were poor excuses for Jedi in his mind, but then having nearly been a Master for most of his adult life he kept a jaded perspective especially after Revan and Bastila. The fact she had given into loving that man was beyond him and then there was having his offspring if the rumors were true on that topic. A child of such strong Force users would be an asset to a new Jedi Order. He however would have to wait on that, but somehow he had a wary suspicion that Vina would be the catalyst for a new Jedi Order something that deeply bothers him.

Vina also kept questionable company between all these shady characters she had given training especially with them being adults for starters. Vina manages to sneak up on him, which momentarily startles the older man. He snips at her with his glare then softens his expression to thank her for staving off disaster. She humbly admits she had great help from everyone on hand here and serves as a sign of their determination. However he feels traces of extensive Battle Meditation at work here despite Bastila having been the only prior successful practitioner of that ability.

***

"I have questions, ones that others have been reluctant or vague to answer. I had made contact with Masters Zez-Kai Ell and Kavar in my recent travels. Ell is already on his way back here, but Kavar is working through the Onderonian situation. As for Master Vash, I am still on my way to looking for her, but I had already met with Atris before taking on this trip."

"Atris is already dead, she has been dead for years, and she died at Katarr with other Purge survivors including Vandar and Zhar."

"The Sith nevertheless are back, I have fought them both at Peragus and on Dxun. If I remember right the only reason or cause to lure them there would be a certain tomb."

"I believe this is not your last stop if you are still searching for Vash and Kavar will likely try to reach you again too. I will join up with Zez-Kai when he arrives and any of the others who find their way back here."

It is with that line that the conversation ends and the two part ways for her journey is now towards Korriban in the hopes of finding a more amicable Master Lonna Vash who went into hiding there after the civil war. The Purge had taken its toll by the time she lost contact with the others, which makes it harder to find her since none of the other survivors had heard from her in some time. The garage repairs are finally complete allowing Bao-Dur to disassemble structural safeguards put in place to compensate for the aft hull damage. Atton resumes his usual spot at the helm as the freighter takes off into the sunset.

***

A few are curious to what Vrook said and others about why she had given up the money reward for saving Khoonda. Mira made a point of reminding them that they are Jedi, not Force for hire, which certainly got Kreia's attention though G0-T0 made his payment as promised to Vina. Vina told the others that she would do these things and only accept payment from the droid crime lord to learn what he knows about their pursuers from around the Galaxy. HK-47 likewise begins to divulge his secrets once properly motivated to let loose. The trip to Korriban would like any jump take time to complete.

Mical seeks her out to complete his Jedi training and so she begins by having him unlearn all the things he thought were already known to him. She has grown exceeding adept at teaching, which almost angers Kreia, but then the Force always had a visible influence on minds open to it. It could provide advantageous to her when the opportunities arise to do so. His feelings for her would also be useful though at least he had enough dignity not to think of the kinds of things that the ex-assassin had thought about when thinking on Vina. She also worries who has taken up residence on Korriban as all too often someone is drawn there or goes there. Another test lies ahead there for her and Vina of that much Kreia felt certain for now.

***

Vina begins meditation sessions with Mical, which draws the attention of Atton who dislikes the prospect of a rival when it comes to Vina. Mira notices his preoccupation with Vina and the amount of time she is spending with Mical. She grabs him by the shoulders then tosses him into the cargo bay for a chat after locking them in together. He gets up to release the lock, but she just Force pushes him into the wall with a gentle flick of her hand. He tries to move, but she pins him with her body.

"I am willing to bet if I were Vina doing this, you would not mind a bit, in fact, I think you would have had her halfway naked by now. She might enjoy the experience, but afterward she would feel uneasy that she had any kind of pleasure for all the pain she feels responsible for in the past. As for you, I am starting to get a sense of what you were before all this with the way you want to disappear even on this ship, she is not your black hole plus she has enough problems without your sexual overtures."

"I am getting tired of people getting in my way, locking me up, shooting me down, and of course pinning me to the floor like you. You hunt people for a living or you used so I thought you might get the whole I am tired of hunting, that I want to find, to live, instead of what I used to do that's what she is to me. It is a life where people can feel alive without all this getting in the way too often."

"She has enough of her own problems without you screwing up her mind anymore than already seems to be even though she can help everyone else except herself, she is healing, but she is nowhere there yet unlike some of us. You either tell her how you feel or stop being a stalker. "

She elbows him out and later he awakens to find Vina looking down at him. She pulls him to his feet as word comes from the cockpit that they are descending on Korriban after days of hyperspace jumping. They enter the main hold where a holo of Korriban is showing at the moment. Everyone else is here except them, but they arrive soon enough. Kreia chooses to not hide from everyone on this one except she tells Vina that she will remain here on this one. Vina only asks that ship be kept on standby so they can take off at a moment's notice or less.

***

Mandalore takes the time to work on the gun turrets after his memories of using them along side Revan years earlier. Bao-Dur comments on the Mandalorian's attention to detail, which Mandalore chuckles then tells the mechanic, these kinds of guns always need a little work from time to time. He heads towards the engine room for some maintenance on the hyperdrive and the other engines since nothing much has been done to look them over especially not since all the rain exposure on Dxun. Mical scours the archives in the computer and comes across files that T3 took from Atris' computers prior to taking up this mission with Atris' support.

It details in very unspecific ways that she had been the one sending her handmaidens to recover artifacts such as holocrons and more from various worlds including those hidden away on Ossus and Dantooine. He also examines the updated astrogation logs, at least the ones accessible to him, as some logs are encrypted without any sign of who did it, but someone had wanted to hide where the ship had been. Someone sought to make sure that it would be a one way trip without any means for someone else to retrace the path taken.

"Someone or something encrypted the logs, but there is something mysterious even about the accessible logs especially on the worlds visited during this search for the surviving Jedi Masters. Each of these worlds was deeply affected by war at one time or another, perhaps more than once, and it is also this that is drawing this new threat to them."

The origin of this threat could only be from one place, the world that was the end of the Mandalorian Wars, but truly could such a world survive what that weapon did to it as well as the surrounding space. It also had something to do with what is happening to Vina or at least he suspects that much. Kreia follows his investigations unseen and recognizes that this one also has potential greater than anyone had known when his training had begun as a young boy. He had idealized Vina from boyhood for she had been his inspiration for the kind of Jedi he could become yet to Kreia everything this particular man could do is wasted on Jedi though everyone has their own fixations or obsessions in life.

* * *

A/N 1: Enter the Mandalorians and Mandalore, something is all too familiar about him even before Kreia reveals how much she knows about him and his connection to Revan. Mandalorians one wonders why I should have such a fascination with them yet they like the Jedi or the Sith are timeless at least by philosophies that have shifted through reinterpretation yet the core of what they stand for remains like their armor.

A/N 2: Palace intrigues are afoot in Iziz. Very little time is spent between Dxun and Onderon the first time around aside from all the side quests involving the Mando camp. Always had fun with the Battle Circle, it gave Dxun's atmospheric feel on the first trip there.

A/N 3: Enter Kavar and Vrook. I'm more fond of the former than the latter. Its becoming clear what led to Vina's cut off from the Force after the Mandalorian Wars. In relation to Dantooine, I thought having the Hawkers (Ebon Hawk crew), the militia, the civilians, and some mercenaries working together made for a slightly more involved battle. In the game it felt shorter so I tried to make it longer.

A/N 4: Enter Mical, intellectual rival to Atton perhaps. Mira compels Atton to firmly indicate his romantic interest in Vina or quit circling around aside from his prior overtures. Anyone who can be Jedified has been done so, a few I was unaware of the first time I played the game so I actually had to utilize some characters without Force abilities in certain fights.


End file.
